Maximizing Your Photographic Potential - Understanding Horizons

This photo gives a good example of “what not to do”. When taking pictures of horizons and landscapes, such as the picture above, it should be noted that you should always follow the “2 thirds” rule for when the sky is the focus and the “one half” rule when it is the ground that is of interest. Improperly aiming your camera will cause such disasters to occur and result in an unappealing photo.

The 2-Thirds Rule (2/3)

The basics of this rule is when you are taking pictures of skyline, buildings, or the sky in general where you want some of the ground features present you must allocate ~2/3 of the top of the photo to the sky and the remaining 1/3 to the ground or ground based objects (such as buildings).

The following picture is of the Toronto Skyline and you can see a lot of space has been given to the sky. It is important to note that the CN Tower (that big pointy tower) is the center of attention in this photo, however the picture is not directly centered on it. 

When you have large objects (such as buildings, trees, statues) that take up most the of skyline space in the photograph it is important that you adjust the amount of ground visable. A good rule of thumb for this kind of photography is that you want about the same amount of ground under your main object as you have sky above it. This follows the 2/3 rule however it is now the main object that takes up 2/3 of the image and 1/3 is left for the sky and the ground; split this evenly 1/6 & 1/6 for the best results in most cases. 

The One Half Rule (1/2)

The basis of this concept is that when you taking picture of things on the ground and you want some sky in the picture it should share 1/2 of the photo space. What this means is that given protrusions in the the skyline your horizon should be just under the mid-way point of your picture.

What this does is places focus not on the sky but on the objects; this helps with an uninteresting skyline. And draws the eyes of the viewer downwards to enjoy the focus of your image. If you do not give enough sky then viewers of your photos will not enjoy your picture as their eye will focus right to the bottom of the picture and they may feel depressed or inspired.

It is important to note that often when using the 1/2 rule you will not see the actual skyline, however the rule remains valid and still applies.

Exceptions - Mirror & Low Contrast

A common exception to the 2/3 and 1/2 rule is when there is a mirror (usually water) which should be counted as sky in terms of spacing. The reason is that you will produce a very blue image with mostly sky & its reflection. If this is not your artistic intent it will look odd. And often (if you take your hand and cover up the last 1/6 of the following image) more like a band of skyline which does not reflect on the water.

Back to the picture at the top (oh no - scroll wheel time). As you may of noticed this follows the 1/2 rule, however it is clearly one of the bluest pictures you will ever see. The problem is that there is no contrast between the sky and the ground (river). This is a problem as the image pulls the eyes to the thin horizon and you never move from it (you will if you try right now, but that is concise thought prevailing).

Ideally you would of lighted the skyline a bit more and correct the hue to a more reddish tone, then you would of cropped the bottom of the picture so that you reach the 2/3 rules; so that is just below the boat to the right. That would improve your picture tremendously but does require post processing so if you think on your toes, you wouldn’t of taking this picture in the first place (or in this case I wouldn’t of).

One Last Thing - Even Horizon

Its okay to not have a perfect horizon when shooting, unless your on a tripod with a level, you never will. But be sure to be close, where not all robots and don’t mind a bit of unevenness  but if your photo is more than a few degrees off, make sure too level it in post processing. The latest version (6) of Photoshop Elements (Windows Version / Mac Version) has this feature in the tool bar. It is easy to use and will improve lopsided photo tremendously.

*** Of note for windows users who also do video, there is a bundle of Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements.

Thats all for now…

And remember to capture the moments!