Hopefully the boots can be fixed, especially if it's not as wonky as my Michael Kors sandals got. @pebblesf My cobbler, Marty, will gladly fix loose heels, but declines to touch anything having to do with a shank. I can understand why, because he's busy enough that he probably doesn't want to mess with it. It's a rather involved repair.
As far as photographing heels to get an idea of their steepness, it is a very tricky business. If you've ever noticed in my own photos, I tend to pose in what is perhaps a less than natural way for the express purpose of showing the heel height. Whether this is actually necessary with y'all is perhaps open to debate, but it's something I've got in the habit of doing. A 10º difference in angle with make a heel look way different than it actually is.
In addition to optical delusions (as I like to call them), I have run into several situations where I cannot get the ruler to agree with the feel of the shoe, and sometimes the look as well. I have some shoes that measure pretty tall, but do not feel it or look it. And yet the ruler doesn't lie, right? I also have a couple pairs that feel insanely steep, but I can't manage to get the ruler to reflect that. I guess I should worry less about numbers, maybe.
My latest training shoes, pictured above somewhere, measure 13.3 cm, which translates to 12.5 cm in size 38, and they feel to me exactly like those numbers would suggest. I need to pace around in them for a good 5-10 minutes before I don't feel completely stupid wearing them, and even then, though I haven't measured, I feel like I can only get the heels about 1/4 inch (or 6 mm) off the ground, standing on tiptoe. I feel like until that distance improves, there's only so much improvement I can make.