The best sentence our author gave us in this chapter on horizons is: "A boring photograph starts long before we get to 'Where do I put my horizon?' " This actually made me laugh.
Horizons usually incorporate a sky or water. When a sky or water is not present, there may be no horizon in a photo at all. If a sky is uninteresting, and you haven't spent the money to buy a "paint in the clouds and sky" overlay package, you may want to skip it as a main feature in your image.
Even when a sky or water (or clean horizon break) is not a part of your photo, you still have a "line" in the photo that you could consider a horizon. I always like my lines to be straight, but that's a matter of preference, and, yes, after a glass of wine, I can be prompted to once-in-a-while have my lines at an angle. But that's a WHOLE other blog post.
The best place for your horizon is where it will have the most impact. If the sky is a Renoir, you might want to devote more space to it. If whatever is in your foreground sets an "oh my" standard, that may take precedence. Different angles and/or different lenses may also help the cause.
This week was tricky for me because, Dear Mr. Duchemin, as much as I have prayed and given up goodies for lent, and lit candles, I have still not realized my dream of living by the ocean. It's about, oh, FIVE hours away in heavy traffic. So I was not going to be able to hone my skills with a "clean" horizon. I live amongst the trees. Think wood nymphs and faeries. I sure do. It's all green here, and lately looks more like a rain forest than anything.
I have to get in my car and drive about 3 miles to find a good horizon. I usually think of doing this ONLY when the sky is a blank slate of gray. With that in mind, here is what I came up with for this week's challenging theme. A comparison. Starting with this first photo of Moe that does not use my line or Moe's placement, or even my camera angle to an advantage.
Horizons usually incorporate a sky or water. When a sky or water is not present, there may be no horizon in a photo at all. If a sky is uninteresting, and you haven't spent the money to buy a "paint in the clouds and sky" overlay package, you may want to skip it as a main feature in your image.
Even when a sky or water (or clean horizon break) is not a part of your photo, you still have a "line" in the photo that you could consider a horizon. I always like my lines to be straight, but that's a matter of preference, and, yes, after a glass of wine, I can be prompted to once-in-a-while have my lines at an angle. But that's a WHOLE other blog post.
The best place for your horizon is where it will have the most impact. If the sky is a Renoir, you might want to devote more space to it. If whatever is in your foreground sets an "oh my" standard, that may take precedence. Different angles and/or different lenses may also help the cause.
This week was tricky for me because, Dear Mr. Duchemin, as much as I have prayed and given up goodies for lent, and lit candles, I have still not realized my dream of living by the ocean. It's about, oh, FIVE hours away in heavy traffic. So I was not going to be able to hone my skills with a "clean" horizon. I live amongst the trees. Think wood nymphs and faeries. I sure do. It's all green here, and lately looks more like a rain forest than anything.
I have to get in my car and drive about 3 miles to find a good horizon. I usually think of doing this ONLY when the sky is a blank slate of gray. With that in mind, here is what I came up with for this week's challenging theme. A comparison. Starting with this first photo of Moe that does not use my line or Moe's placement, or even my camera angle to an advantage.
While I did not use a lot of foreground in this photo (believe me it looks the same....green....long.....grass), the high grass is still overpowering. My lines aren't matching in terms of the bottom of Moe's chair and the end of the line of grass behind him (before the trees), and it would be better if you could see more of the legs of the chair. Moe's expression is saying "I seriously CANNOT FIT on this chair and I have no idea what you were thinking putting me on it, human" and he is in the middle of the photo. Those trees do not look very interesting at this angle either. I am basically photographing this image straight on, even with Moe in my lens angle.
If we think of the trees as the sky, I didn't give you a very good look at them, did I?
How about this image?
If we think of the trees as the sky, I didn't give you a very good look at them, did I?
How about this image?
I am going to bet that most of you will like this image WAY BETTER than the first one. Let's see what I did differently.
First, we do have some great things going for us in this scene to begin with. There is, of course, Moe. And the white chair. I never moved the chair, Moe just changed his angle a little and his expression is more relaxed. And I changed my angle too. I got down on the ground and shot upward. I stayed in the exact same spot where I shot the first image, just changed my angle (remember? we learned about that several blogs ago). My chair line is straight, and my back line is straight, and you are no longer overpowered by the grass-that-must-be-mowed-every-two-days. Moe is also placed off center. You are seeing more of the trees, which at this time of day, had great golden sun flecks shining through them.
Here is one more take on this same image, only with a few tonal changes and a bit darker editing of the trees. The trees take the place of the sky. So, which photo do you prefer?
First, we do have some great things going for us in this scene to begin with. There is, of course, Moe. And the white chair. I never moved the chair, Moe just changed his angle a little and his expression is more relaxed. And I changed my angle too. I got down on the ground and shot upward. I stayed in the exact same spot where I shot the first image, just changed my angle (remember? we learned about that several blogs ago). My chair line is straight, and my back line is straight, and you are no longer overpowered by the grass-that-must-be-mowed-every-two-days. Moe is also placed off center. You are seeing more of the trees, which at this time of day, had great golden sun flecks shining through them.
Here is one more take on this same image, only with a few tonal changes and a bit darker editing of the trees. The trees take the place of the sky. So, which photo do you prefer?
I am looking forward to seeing what others in the blog circle did for this week's theme. Let's start here with Charlotte NC dog walker turned dog photographer, Kim Hollis, of See Spot Run Photography. Enjoy!
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