How to choose the position of horizon in the structure correctly?

The position of the horizon plays an important role in your composition, and the horizon will affect the viewer's perception of the photo. Capturing a scene is not only an interesting visual effect, it also tells a powerful story. Putting the horizon in the right place helps to create an influential photo and express a more relevant story. In this tutorial, we will discuss useful techniques to help you understand where to place the horizon and how to adjust it when composing.

First, where should we look?

As a general rule of thumb, please avoid putting the horizon in the center of the photo. Please move up if you want to focus on the foreground. If the sky looks interesting, please move it down, which can help you attract the audience's attention to the most interesting part of the photo.

1. When do you choose the high horizon?

If you want the foreground of the picture or the lower part of the picture to dominate, you can consider putting the horizontal line at the top of the picture. The most important thing to remember when putting the horizon on the top is the choice of vertical lines, especially the edge of the picture, which may tilt outward or toward the border. You can correct it at any time in post-processing.

2. When to use the low horizon

Putting the horizon at the bottom of the picture can easily capture the dramatic beauty of the sky, which not only provides the advantages needed by the upper part, but also keeps the audience's attention at the top.

3. When will the horizon be centered?

If you are shooting a reflected or isolated mountain range, ideally, the two halves of the photo should have some connection, and you can use themes such as peaks or trees to break the horizon for composition.

Second, how to adjust the horizon

Moving the camera up and down allows you to move and adjust your field of vision according to the specific scene you are shooting. In addition, you can capture an image at any level and use the cropping function to adjust the image during post-processing.

In some cases, you can also tilt the camera to adjust the horizon. If there are not too many vertical objects (such as the coast) in the picture, it can work normally. However, if there are many vertical objects (such as tall buildings or trees) in the picture, tilting the camera may cause some perspective problems.

Third, how to use the horizon to get better results.

Now that you know what the horizon is and how to adjust it according to the situation, let's take a look at how to use this knowledge to compose some amazing photos.

1. Set your goals.

Before taking any photos, you need to know what you want to achieve. Are you looking for something more chaotic or dramatic, or something more peaceful and quiet? This is one of the most important considerations when using the horizon, because small composition changes may produce huge differences in the generated images. Before you press the shutter, you must set the goal of what kind of atmosphere and appearance you want to achieve.

2. Choose the right focal length

If you have been engaged in photography for a long time, I believe you have used various lenses. For each photo, you must choose a specific focal length, so that you can reduce or emphasize the importance of horizontal lines in the picture. Remember, a wide-angle lens not only distorts the horizontal line, but also affects the vertical line because of the lens distortion. If you use a telephoto lens, all lines, especially the horizon, will be enhanced. The degree to which you want to draw the audience's attention to the horizontal line determines which focal length is the best.

3. Practice using different perspectives

If you don't try different perspectives, the photographer can't determine which effect is the best according to the situation. Trying different perspectives allows you to use the best composition that is most suitable for the scene, and also allows you to find a new position to place the horizon and achieve the best results.

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Not all photos need a horizon. Sometimes (such as wildlife, macro photography) you have to completely ignore the horizon and focus on the details of the subject.