Take Better Photos now!

One last shot of Paris(photographers never tell the truth). I approached the Eiffel Tower from across the Sienne at sunset. It is everything you have ever read or been told of. It dominates the skyline for miles around. Up close, it soars above the river Sienne. A breath-taking site that has to be seen.

For the past 20 years tilting the horizon has become a “cool” trick to insert to make images look edgy or hip. I think it can be a great tool that can be utilized when a photographer needs to add more information to the frame and/or to place part of the subject into a better portion of the frame to improve the composition. Here the top of the tower would have fallen outside any of the normal areas of convergence. So, I tilted the camera horizon to place it(the top) into the upper area of convergence(the intersection of the right vertical third and the upper horizontal third)to make this interesting and hopefully memorable night shot of the Eiffel Tower. Again, Bonjour!

Another example for composition, especially when traveling. Remember to carve your viewfinder into imaginary thirds. I was actually in the Louvre Museum passing a window when I saw the Sacre Coeur. I placed the church in the lower right hand convergence of the lower horizontal and the right vertical thirds. Another tip I’d like to address here is the 1/3 - 2/3 rule for landscapes. Try to place the horizon of the land in either the lower horizontal or the upper horizontal. Thus, you’ll have either a lot of land or a lot of sky. Much more visually appealing than a horizon that splits the middle. So, in our photo here, we get the church and the surrounding buildings taking up the lower third and the sky taking up 2/3′rds of the rest of the frame. The church gives us a nice base for the image to rest on(visually). A much better composition than placing the buildings in the middle of the frame. Next time you look through your viewfinder think about the horizon.

Remember, we want our images to be dynamic to the viewer. Splitting the horizon is a quick way to put your viewers to sleep. We will re-visit this tip many times. Bonjour!