http://www.lightstalking.com/photo-troubles

I always seem to have a hard time keeping my horizon straight..even with guidelines..

thanks for the reminder....hope a lot of people read this.... tips  follow and only very seldom forget

Watch Out for Crooked Horizons

The bane of photography instructors everywhere, crooked horizons are obviously mainly present in landscape photography. Unless they’re an intentional compositional element they can drive some people to despair.

Click Here: Light Stalking » 3 Familiar Photo Troubles – And What To Do to Overcome Them 

yes,i am one of them,  but it is so easy to fix ......

I use this cheap spirit level on my camera and it works a treat.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001HS87D6?ie=UTF8&tag=stuincus-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001HS87D6

unlevel horizons are my number one pet peeve.  I've seen the most amazing photos but if the horizon is off, I can't concentrate on the rest of the composition.  Great information here.

If you make a note to always shoot a little wider than your intended composition, having a level horizon isn't much of a problem. Crop tool in Photoshop has this in mind as it also lets you set the angle when grabbed near a corner.

In other words, when a camera has enough megapixels, take advantage of it. (Unless you're specifically shooting for poster-size images, that extra resolution gives much room for sacrifice.)

Nikon also seems to be aware of one of the other problems listed, as most of their cameras often seem to intentionally underexpose by 1/3EV or so. (At least that's what I've seen in the various reviews before I ended buying one. Seems to be true too.) That's ok though, because like in the article - you're less likely to blow out an image by over-exposing. Levels or brightness/contrast adjustment layers in post are my friend in that regard.

Even one degree of tilt is noticable, and it's tough to shoot a perfectly straight horizon.  I'm with PJ ... it's one of my top two pet peeves.  Even the most technically outstanding image looks amateurish if the horizon isn't level.  If you can't do it in camera, for pity's sake, take two seconds in postwork and fix it!  Such a simple thing. 

I'm happy to have a reminder about ISO.  I always forget to try low light with a higher ISO.  (Apparently I can only remember one or two things at a time!  LOL!)  I'm going to try shooting  a bit higher and see how much I can get away with and not get grain.

Loved the histogram tip, too.  This was a most excellent article.