That "Crooked Chic" Look

For a long time, I was getting frustrated with how much trouble I was having getting a straight shot. I later discovered that Picassa has a great feature that straightens photos, one of the few modifications even a photo-edit-minimalist like myself would be ok with. So I used it. A lot.

Then, one day when I had nothing better to do (good old college days), I began looking through some old photos and stumbled on to some crooked shots I forgot to straighten. Much to my surprise, I really liked them!

Take a look at how the slant of this photo conveys movement.

One of my favourite photos: it's much less eye-catching when straightened.

Sometimes, you will find that leaving your photos for a while before editing them allows you to become emotionally detached and, therefore, more rational when looking at them later. This really helps because, while we tend to be very self-critical, when we distance ourselves from our work- looking at it as though we are looking at someone else's work- we are less eager to find flaws, thus better equipped to judge it. Now, our mistakes aren't as obvious or bothersome as we previously thought, and our flaws as photographers are what make us unique.

Unintentionally crooked photos have sort of become my thing since I've realized that it can actually look better sometimes (sorry, OCD people). Not only does it look like the subjects/objects in the photo are "coming at you", but it give the photos a unique perspective and, sometimes, even the illusion of movement. I highly recommend not straightening all your photos, embrace the imperfections. 

This is an example of the "coming at you" look I was talking about.