Keep your horizon line straight.
Since my background is not in photography rather in painting and design, I studied the elements of visual design. The day I picked up a camera and looked through the viewfinder was the day I changed the medium from a brush and colored pencils to a camera. Years and years later I still consider myself an artist, only now I photograph what I actually see instead of painting what I saw or only see in my mind.
Since this is the way I approach picture taking, I now enlighten those that sign up for my online class with the BPSOP, and my fellow photographers that sign up for my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the place. The ones that first take my online class walk away with I refer to as my Artist Palette.
This particular palette no longer has different pigments on it, but instead has: Texture, Pattern, Form, Shape, Line, Balance, and Color; if you click on the aforementioned link you can get an idea of how to use the palette.
In my online class I devote an entire lesson on Line. Line is the most important of all the elements of Visual Design, and without line none of the other elements I teach would exist. In fact without line, planes, trains, automobiles, and even people wouldn’t exist as well. Why? Because we all have an outLINE.
That said, the most important line is the horizon line, and when I see a horizon line that’s not straight it’s a sure sign that a novice took the picture. Don’t get me wrong, It’s not a judgment, merely an observation. In my opinion, the only time the horizon line wouldn’t appear straight is if you were in the Space Shuttle.
You would think that it’s an easy fix, and you would be partially right. If you’re on a tripod, like I am a lot of the time, you simply straighten the horizon right away and then forget about it. It will continue to be straight right up to and including the part when you actually take the photo.
However, most people don’t like being in complete control so they always hand hold their camera. The inherent problem is in the fact that you have to look at the horizon line while you’re composing, and then again right before you take the photo. That’s going to make it hard to concentrate on a host of things like: capturing the moment, human and non-human gesture, body language, the peak of any action, balance, etc.
I’ve been shooting for fifty years and I often have a tough time remembering to take a final look at the horizon line. If you can do it, and do it successfully then you’re way above my pay grade…and I take my hat off to you.
The next time you go out shooting, look at the horizon line and remember these words. It will take your photos “up a notch”. Oh and one last piece of advice: Try getting it straight “in the camera”, and not later in front of a computer. It will make you a better photographer, if that’s what your thing is.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
