Project 1: the horizon line

When I took the images for this project I was out late one Sunday afternoon recently looking for shots for Assignment 1, conscious of the fact that I wanted to complete the shoot for the assignment whilst we were still in winter in view of the mild weather this year. Whist out in the North Lincolnshire Wolds I came across this tree as the light was fading. Despite the low, rather flat, light I felt that, with the obvious clear horizon line and the tree for a focus, it would make an ideal location for this project. I decided to use a portrait format, partly as I thought that it was appropriate for the tree and I also thought that it would allow me to position the horizon in a greater variety of positions in the frame than landscape. I did take a landscape image which I shall include in the next project. I used a 17-85 zoom lens on my Canon 50D and shot at 81mm with the camera on the tripod.

My preferred images are 2 and 3 and if pushed photograph 2 as there is balance in the picturebut interest in the sky, whereas the foreground lacks interest. Had the sky been plain it would have detracted from the shots. All of the images would have been more interesting with attractive side lighting. If I get the opportunity I may go back and take some more shots in these conditions.

Image 5
In the final shot, Image 5, I have placed the horizon towards the top of the picture squeezing the tree to the top of the frame and not giving it enough 'space'. I also feel that there is too much uninteresting foreground.

Image 4
In image 4 the horizon line is cutting the image nearly in half and I feel that the interest begins to wane.

Image 3

Again more foreground has been included in Image 3 and the horizon is close to a line a third of the way up the picture again giving more feeling of balance.

Image 2

In image 2 I have included more foreground and it is becoming more balanced and interesting.

Image 1

I framed this shot so that there was very little ground and a great deal of sky. I feel that the image is rather unbalance with far too much sky, although there are some interesting clouds.