Enjoy Travel Photography

Why do buildings seem to lean away from your camera when you take pictures of them? Or, if you’re standing at one of the corners, why does the building seem to be crooked in any pictures taken from that angle?

We know that building walls go straight up and down. They are parallel to each other and at a right angle to the ground. But, when we take pictures of them, the walls in the pictures don’t look that way.

Well, there is an explanation. In this article, I’ll do my best to break the technical reasons down into something even I can understand. After that, I’ll tell you what you can do to correct it.

One of the problems is that you can’t see the “crooked” walls in your camera’s viewfinder. It doesn’t show up the same way as it will in the picture.

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One of the things that separates snapshots from the really good travel photos is the point of focus. I’m not talking about how sharp the photo is but, rather, how the photo is framed.

I’m sure you’ve seen the snapshots Aunt Gertie brought back from her vacation with her husband and their children. They’re all pretty much alike. There’s the famous building, mountain or statue in the background. Standing in front of it is the smiling family.

The purpose of the snapshot is to provide proof that they’ve been there and done that! The hope is that everyone is smiling and has their eyes open. Only one shot was taken because we can’t be wasting film, you know. Many of these people still follow that habit - with their digital cameras!

After making sure she got the famous landmark in the photo, Aunt Gertie concentrated on getting everyone together and smiling. That was all she needed for a proof photo. Click!

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