Project 12 - positioning the horizon

The photographs for this project were taken using the seafront of the old city of Cádiz as the horizon, as seen from the promenade of the more modern area. On the right can be seen part of the old city walls with the cathedral towards the centre and the peninsula stretching to the left, to the north-west. All shots were taken at f/4.5, 1/4000s, ISO 400 at 27mm.


In the first photograph, the horizon is placed at its lowest so that the sky predominates. Unfortunately, there isn't much interest in the sky, being July in Southern Spain, so I don't consider that this position of the horizon gives the photo a dynamic quality.


The second photograph positions the horizon at the centre of the frame, with the addition of a considerable foreground of beach area giving the shot greater depth (and interest) than the first photo.



Photograph number 3 has the horizon slightly higher with more foreground than in Photo 2. Although there is still a lot of uninteresting sky remaining in the shot, I think that the shot has a better balance because of the feeling of depth and I like the way that the shoreline of the beach draws the eye into the centre of the frame.




Finally, the fourth photograph has the horizon at its highest position. The shot is mainly foreground and, while this has some interesting detail, I feel that it dominates the photograph and detracts from the Cádiz seafront in the distance. However, if the detail on the horizon were not a significant consideration, the placing of the horizon towards the top of the frame allows considerable depth to be achieved




For reasons mentioned above, I have a preference for photo 3 as there is a good balance between the horizon and the foreground but photo 4 also has merit in relation to its depth of field.