Positioning the horizon

The objective of this exercise was to understand the impact of the horizon line on the composition of the photograph. A sequence of six photographs were taken (with an ipad through an office window so apologies for the window reflections in some of the images) to experiment with the position of the horizon line.  The results are as follows:

The first shot taken with the horizon close to the bottom of the frame works well because the sky was so amazing that day. 

The second shot, giving greater weight on the buildings below the horizon also works well but some of the drama of the huge clouds is already lost.  This image is still however dynamic.

In the third image, the horizon is closer still to the middle of the frame and some of the balance with the sky is lost and the image is even less dramatic.  But the strong leading lines of the building in the bottom left-hand corner pointing towards Canary Wharf on the horizon add balance and focus back into the image.  Although the horizon in this case is closer to the middle than the image above, this image works better because of the appearance of those lines.

 In the fourth image, the horizon is above the middle and the buildings in the foreground are more visible.  In terms of composition, this works, if the interest is on the buildings.  It's a great view looking east to Canary Wharf, but the bottom of the frame has captured a flat roof beneath my office, which although it gives some perspective on height, it's not an attractive feature to include in the image.  If I was showing this image, I would crop that out.  It's a pity though that at this point the dramatic sky is now lost.

Finally, even more so than the image above, this sixth photo is almost entirely buildings with virtually no sky and definately no interesting clouds.  For me this shot does not work at all.














A few days prior to this, I was fortunate enough to see a rainbow on the horizon  So (echoes of Blue Peter), here's one I made earlier!  In this case, the image works well, because the drama of the sky is captured, the leading lines of the buildings pointing to Canary Wharf are there, plus the added bonus of the light over Canary Wharf making it look almost Biblical!  The image is also dynamic as the horizon is not exactly in the middle (I did crop some grey sky out though).