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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Help! There's a HORIZON LINE through MY HEAD!
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Showing posts 1 - 9 of 9, (reverse)
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 12/03/2005 11:58:20 AM · #1
I read somewhere on this site that you should never put a horizon line through someones head. Is this true? Can someone vouch for this?

If it is true, what do you do at the beach? Shoot down on them to get rocks and sand, or shoot up on them and get a lot of ugly sky? Both seem to not be an option. Answer this if you have experience with this at beaches specififally.

Thanks!
E
 12/03/2005 12:02:33 PM · #2
What you need is bear_music. He is the man.
 12/03/2005 12:08:43 PM · #3
I was always told that images tend to be better where the foreground or main subject does not break any major horizontal lines. So things like trees and towers also fall into this category.

How to get over this - well I always look around for some backdrop, a windbreak, a sand dune, a building. If thats not possible then try getting up higher than the subject. I have been known to carry a short step ladder in the car for this purpose. But you could stand on a rock.
Alternatively get down low and shoot up.
 12/03/2005 12:11:11 PM · #4
As for horizontal lines running through heads,
Sometimes it works...

Sometimes it doesn't...

And the alternate option (different angle) isn't bad.

12/03/2005 12:13:16 PM · #5
Originally posted by Falc:
I was always told that images tend to be better where the foreground or main subject does not break any major horizontal lines. So things like trees and towers also fall into this category.

How to get over this - well I always look around for some backdrop, a windbreak, a sand dune, a building. If thats not possible then try getting up higher than the subject. I have been known to carry a short step ladder in the car for this purpose. But you could stand on a rock.
Alternatively get down low and shoot up.


Shooting from below makes people look powerful and commanding - not a look that my portrait customers want. Shooting from above often makes people look small and meek - again, not really desirable...
 12/03/2005 12:17:26 PM · #6
Originally posted by hbunch7187:
Sometimes it doesn't...


Who was looking for horizontal lines at the time?
Funny - I never even noticed until you pointed it our here - thanks - you just forever ruined this picture for me.
May need to see a therapist now.

Forgot to add this dude:

Message edited by author 2005-12-03 12:17:57.
 12/03/2005 01:24:49 PM · #7
Here's quote from one site:

Straight lines that parallel your frame should be avoided. If you photograph people, church steeples, flagpoles, or boat masts so that they âbreak the horizon,â your photographs will be more dynamic. Remember that the horizon might be the crest of a hill, the roofline of a building, or some other straight or long horizontal line in your composition. If you canât avoid them, use them to your advantage.

....not sure if heads are an exception...I've never consciously noticed it in a negative way in any picture
 12/03/2005 02:47:45 PM · #8
Originally posted by eslaydog:
I read somewhere on this site that you should never put a horizon line through someones head. Is this true? Can someone vouch for this?


That's certainly correct. It's almost always bad to have a strong horizontal (or even diagonal) background/horizon line bisecting the subject's head, or even nearly doing so. Example of nice picture of mine where I was unable to avoid this: if I went lower I would lose the expanse of water in the foreground, and there was no way to go enough higher to make a difference. The picture would be better if the horizon were more above his head, and better yet if the horizon ran through his torso:



Originally posted by Falc:
I was always told that images tend to be better where the foreground or main subject does not break any major horizontal lines. So things like trees and towers also fall into this category.


I completely disagree with this. I don't think this is a valid generality. Certainly, most of my landscapes follow that "rule", but this is just because they are what they are. To say that it's "better" not to break horizon lines with subjects is to take away a major compositional tool. Examples:



Allowing the horizon to cross the subject has the effect of bringing the subject IN to the environment in a much more dramatic way. You have to be careful WHERE the crossover occurs, though.

Robt.
 12/03/2005 02:59:16 PM · #9
It's all relative.
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