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A surprise image that allowed me to feature Half Dome with people to provide context.

My recent trip to Yosemite for a destination wedding resulted in this image. We were walking up the trail when I saw this scene. I rushed to set my camera to expose for the background and let the woman and the child render as silhouettes. So, Half Dome remained as a correctly exposed background and I placed the couple in the lower right hand area of convergence. Even though the lower parts of their bodies were hidden by the trail, I still love the graphic starkness of this image. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was rather low in the sky, just above the peaks surrounding the valley,. The 1/3 2/3 rule is in effect here with Half Dome dominating the bottom 2/3rds fo the frame and the sky allotted to about 1/3 of the frame. Always be aware of what is ahead and try to have your camera ready for anything. You just might be surprised with beautiful images.

Not as blustery as Christopher Robbins saw, but enough clouds and wind to make an interesting image outside London. This store is just down the highway from where A. Milne lived and wrote Winnie the Pooh. I actually walked through the 100 acre woods. A charming place but not as picturesque as you might hope for. So, I was looking for an iconic image to give a sense of place. No Pooh bears around, but a cute little sign and some dramatic looking clouds. I exposed for the sky, composed the image with the sky dominating the frame(1/3 2/3 rule) and placed the sign near the upper convergence area(the intersection of the upper horizontal and the right vertical third). The exposure for the sky created a silhoutte of the buildings and the sign.

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!