When tilted shots work.

I have to admit, I'm not much of a tilter. I think I've purposely tilted during a wedding shoot only a few dozen times in 50+ weddings. And 99% of the time I see another photographer's tilted photo, I think it's arbitrarily applied; and I think it looks ridiculous.

All of that said, I sometimes feel like my shots play it far too safe in terms of the horizontals and verticals; and I feel like I should be introducing more dynamism via tilting--at least occasionally.

My questions: when do you think tilts work ? Are there some unifying features of tilted shots, some method ? If I had to take a stab at this I'd guess that it works when tilting makes it such that things are vertically aligned in the photo (key features of the photo are moved so they lie directly over one another) or if that tilt puts a non-vertical subject to a vertical state so as to 'anchor' the image to that subject and their physical and psychological perspective.

Any thoughts ?

Any examples of tilts that you think work ? Why do they work ?

ive been here for a bit and will say that this forum appreciates straight pictures vs tilted.

I personally believe it has a time and place, and if the image can lead your eye or have some type of creative purpose then it can be done well. a 45° image of the bride walking down with her father probably isn't the best case for that picture though.

then again, it's art, feel free to do what YOU like and YOUR CLIENTS like.

I don't think I've ever seen a tilted shot that I liked.

i tilt a lot of photos. not because it's my style, but because I seem to be incapable of holding the damn camera straight.

picturecrazy wrote in post #15145352
i tilt a lot of photos. not because it's my style, but because I seem to be incapable of holding the damn camera straight.

Yeah me too. That half bottle of Whisky in the car doesn't help much!

I have an excuse for tilted shots - one of my legs is slightly shorter than the other. Of course my tilt direction varies.

I rarely like tilted shots. I did them when I was a beginner, now I cringe when I see what I did.

I don't like them. IMO, they're on par with using a ton of tonal contrast to make your photos look more "interesting".

I tilt my shots at times, provided I see the shot that way.

Even with a level on my cameras, I still tilt. I end up fixing a lot of them in post.

I can't name a single tilted shot of mine I ever liked. I've seen maybe 3 or 4 tilted that I ever liked.

ZachOly wrote in post #15146110
I don't like them. IMO, they're on par with using a ton of tonal contrast to make your photos look more "interesting".

This made me laugh. I point out pics that have too much tonal contract or too much of the clarity slider all the time.

I've seen some wedding photos so tilted they make you feel sea sick as you jump from one to another. Very rarely does tilting enhance a photo in wedding photography - maybe ever so slightly if person/persons are walking towards you and you want to install a small sense of movement, but otherwise nope.

picturecrazy wrote in post #15145352
i tilt a lot of photos. not because it's my style, but because I seem to be incapable of holding the damn camera straight.

LMOA.. guess there's 2 of us in his world. Thank god for LR cropping tools

I rarely tilt these days and most times don't appreciate others work if tilted but agree with Dan, the occasional shot can be improved with tilt.

Majority of my weddings are on or near a beach and nothing (IMO) looks worse than a wonky horizon.

Maybe a tilted jumping shot would work?

Rarely see a tilted shot that works ..... don't get it and seems universally disliked by potential clients who always seem to mock them !