Same here; my photo software (ACDSee) lets me throw a grid over the image and adjust to a tenth of a degree at a time. Wonderful especially when you’re shooting on a beach with the sky-sea junction in the background.
Semi-related question for the OP:
gaffa, have any of the performers you’ve worked with expressed an opinion about getting “blasted” by the focus lamps on digital cameras?
In a setting such as described in the OP, there shouldn’t be any blasting of focus lamps involved. There’s plenty of light and contrast in the subject that focus assist should not be an issue. (ETA: Unless the camera thinks you’re taking a photo of something other than the high contrast area.)
You are really lessening the impact of my wisecrack with your facts.
DXO optics lets you draw a horizon line (or a vertical line), and it’ll adjust the entire thing to level those out. You can also free-style it with the software as well.
(I don’t work for DXO; I’m just a seriously satisfied user of their software)
Well, while we’re doing a software round-up, I believe all the versions of Lightroom do this, as well, plus Lightroom 5 has an automatic straightening mode that is surprisingly accurate.
I hate it when that happens. 
Aperture does this nicely as well. I’m sad that Apple still hasn’t shown Aperture the love it needs though.
Aperture was pretty well promoted, from what I remember, out of the gate. And it’s still pretty well regarded. I started with Aperture, myself, before jumping ship to Lightroom for various reasons (the way they handled libraries and folder structures in the first release being the biggest, although they’ve long since changed that).
I get that buying a camera can be a better option. But not for all of us. I’ve bought cameras. I’ve read hints & tips on making my pictures better. I get the same results with my iPhone. I’m just not talented that way. Don’t expect me to stop using my iPhone (or my iPad if I ever update it). I’m not looking to make great art. I can’t. But I do like to document some of the fun times I"m having. And to snottily suggest that I’m not doing that right, yeah, that’s annoying.
Now if I am using my flash inappropriately, sure, that’s annoying. I hate it myself. But for me at least, my phone is my camera and I don’t plan to change that.
I understand what you mean; a common photography quote is that the best camera is the one you actually have on you when the right picture presents itself. That’s why I always look for the smallest and lightest P&S camera for general use; if I have to drag around a big clunky camera, it’ll probably only be when I’m on vacation, not when I’m out and about with friends or anywhere else. (don’t have a smartphone yet)
That said, my dSLR beats the crap out of my P&S picture quality wise, and my P&S is a ca. 2012 top of the line Canon (Powershot S100), and my dSLR was Canon’s consumer level dSLR in 2010 (T2i). 2 years difference, and the dSLR still outperforms the P&S hands down. But it’s much bigger, heavier and clunkier, so probably 75% of the time, the P&S gets the nod.
I agree. From time to time I have nothing better then my iPhone with me, so I use it.
If I remember to, I usually bring along my Fuji x100, a very compact decent mirrorless camera that is far smaller than a DSLR but takes great photos. Everything else stays in the camera bag for photo-specific activities.
I have seen people taking pictures of a lunar eclipse with the fucking flash turned on.
People are morons.
I have a tiny little Nikon in my purse at all times. I bring the larger and better Samsung with me whenever I go out and have someplace to carry it. I almost got a picture of a van hung up on a jersey barrier last Christmas - my husband wouldn’t stop and go back so I could take pictures of it.
I actually take a lot more photos with my phone’s camera than I ever thought I would- it is the one camera that’s always with me, even if it’s low resolution, no zoom, and no flash. But, if I’m on the way to work and see someone’s crappy GMC truck with a Maserati emblem on the tailgate, that’s the camera that I have with me. (and yes, I did see that truck one time!)
The hierarchy works more or less like this:
Most of the time, I just have my phone.
If I think that I may take pictures, I put the S100 in the pocket.
If I know I’ll be taking pictures, then the T2i comes out. My wife usually takes the S100 at that point.
On a trip to Hawaii, I was once at the top of Haleakala crater late in the day. After a gorgeous sunset, everyone stuck around to watch the Milky Way gradually appear. . . except for this one woman whose flash kept going off. I tactfully asked her why she was using a flash, and she answered that she wanted the Milky Way to look as bright as possible.
I hope that she understood that her camera needs a time delay of a few thousand years, to allow the light from the flash to reach the Milky Way and come back again.
The ones I love are the ones who are convinced that a flash bounced off the ceiling will arrive too late for the shutter…
Well-intentioned, I’m sure, but just as likely to come across as patronising, condescending, or passive-agressive (albeit unintentionally) as it is to be helpful.
I do a lot of news photography and I often run into art or hobby photographers who get right into all the super-technical aspects of it, light/dark ratios, exposure times, and that sort of thing.
They often seem surprised when I tell them 90% of what I do is composition and as a general rule, “f8 and be there” works pretty well.
And yes, infill flash is your friend for news photography. But otherwise I agree with the OP’s point.
Yeah, sounds about right. But even the so-called “point and click” cameras are too complex for true point and click these days, and it is too easy to get caught up in the settings and miss the shot.
And I assume some of your composition gets done in the “darkroom.” Lots of megapixels makes cropping easier.