Exercise: positioning the horizon and experimenting with cropping

For this project, I experiment with placing the horizon in the middle, top, and bottom of the frame. Then I added a subject on the left side and repeated the exercise.

The horizon in the middle is generally boring unless there is some compositional reason to place it there. When I was composing for this exercise, it was very hard for me to just put it in the middle without anything else in the photo, so I lined up the three boats. I found that with this composition, it made the horizon in the top the most boring.

Using my wide angle on the zoom (with the digital camera), I added the boat at the dock on the left. It's up close and adds some interest regardless of where the horizon is placed. With the compositional element in the foreground, the placement of the horizon works or doesn't work based on how it relates to that compositional element.









I added the boat to the left which brings some interest into the foreground. This is with the zoom set on 18mm. I like the wide angle used close up on a subject.



This probably my favorite shot of the sequence. I like the boat on the left, and the lineup of boats going across towards the top right of the photo. The clouds are interesting in the top portion of the photo. Even though there's nothing happening in the lower right portion of the photo, I think it's okay. It gives a feeling of space. Might be better with the bottom cropped some though, so the boat in the foreground touches the bottom edge of the picture.


This just seems odd. I like how the boats are lined up again, but I think we don't get enough of the boat in the foreground. And with this framing, it emphasizes the lineup of boats. I think it's because the decks of each boat feel lined up and the deck of the boat in the foreground is emphasized so that's where the eye starts. It makes the eye sort of skim from one boat to the next. Might have worked better if I crouched down to take the shot. I like the sky though, and the American flag is also interesting.


I cropped some off the bottom of the second horizon/top shot so that the boat touches the bottom edge of the photo. I like the feel of it. Also like how the angle of the bottom of the boat is now more emphasized and points towards the other boats. That line craws the eye as much, if not more than the line created by the deck. Either way, both lines point towards the series of three boats in the distance. But I do miss the curve on the bottom of the boat that is now missing. I might try to crop it so that is retained. And without the extra water, you get less feeling of open space. It feels less expansive. I guess that's one of the tradeoffs.




In this one I cropped of some of the bottom, but didn't bring the boat to the bottom edge of the photo. I like the other two versions better. I don't think this works because it's too low to get a feel for the curve off the bottom of the boat, but not low enough to bring in the new dimension that's created by having it extend beyond the bottom edge of the photo.