traveletic: Failed vacation photographs

I am sure that sounds familiar: you are on vacation together with you friend or boyfriend/girlfriend and you are getting a bit tired of taking turns when photographing. Whether you are near the St. Paul’s Cathedral or the Colosseum there is not even one picture that would be an evidence of you being together there. So you finally decide to give you camera to a passerby. This is a difficult choice, isn't it?
Today I shall tell you about 4 typical mistakes of the vacation photograps.

As you are letting go off your camera the hypothetical candidate should look decent enough. He also should be between 20-40 age bracket (old enough to be adequate and not too old to be techno friendly). When you spot your candidate it is a hard time to get his attention and ask him to take a photo of you. Then you explain which button to press and give some basic recommendations (e.g. you want that building or that fountain on the photo). You are proud you’ve finally done it. You are happy and hopeful until the moment you see your picture.

Here comes a bitter disappointment. You refuse to understand: you have explained it all and your candidate seemed normal. And yet the photograph is a disaster.

Crooked horizon line

Crooked horizon line gives you an impression that either photographer is drunk or he is on the ship during a strong gale. How else would you explain this bedlam of horizontal and vertical lines?

Body parts on the picture

Fingers or hair covering part of the scene have tendency to turn me into Hulk.

Beheaded buildings & monuments

If I ask somebody to take a picture of me against the background of some building, I want the most of the building possible. Never mind a few meters of the pavement or legs.