Sloping horizons.

metroman

metroman

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Being mostly a novice landscape snapper I frequently read criticisms about sloping horizons. While I understand that applies predominantly to seascapes I wonder what the thinking is about horizons in other situations. I use my in-camera leveller to true everything up but often disagree with it's setting and will use my own judgement. This morning was a case in question, a sloping field, what to do? When I look at my image I am drawn to the slope and feel it should be level but the field IS SLOPED! is it me?



Borage sunrise6 by Brian Lewicki, on Flickr
 
Think of it this way, if you skewed the above photo so the slope was level then the clouds would be sloping instead and that would be even more prominent.
 
But the trees and the telegraph pole are vertical, as they should be. Ergo the shot is correct. Mind you I did once come across a judge who marked a picture like this down because the horizon was sloping. But that's judges for you!!!
 
So it is a dilemma then. I do find myself cropping my images and skewing them to suit my "perception" rather than what was the actual scene.
 
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metroman said:
Being mostly a novice landscape snapper I frequently read criticisms about sloping horizons. While I understand that applies predominantly to seascapes I wonder what the thinking is about horizons in other situations. I use my in-camera leveller to true everything up but often disagree with it's setting and will use my own judgement. This morning was a case in question, a sloping field, what to do? When I look at my image I am drawn to the slope and feel it should be level but the field IS SLOPED! is it me?
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Yes Brian, the image is sloped, about 3 degrees. The field itself is sloping as well, it's often a problem isn't it, you get the image square and level, shoot it and find that, although you know it's straight and level, it just doesn't look right.
 
Photographing natural diagonals in landscapes, which are everywhere, can actually make an composition more appealing, it sort of makes it more dynamic so don't be afraid to make use of them. The problem with sloping water is that it doesn't naturally occur in nature so it's instantly noticeable that your photo isn't level.. having said that some people do it deliberately for a more "arty" effect. There isn't really any rules to landscape photography, just guidelines that you follow or break depending on whet you prefer.. best idea is just try everything :)

Simon
 
metroman said:
But does the image look peculiarly skewed because of the natural slope? This is bugging me.
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No, on the contrary, I think it looks right. I f you look closely at the base line of the trees, you will see that the land is undulating and not completely flat and level.
 
killwilly said:
No, on the contrary, I think it looks right. I f you look closely at the base line of the trees, you will see that the land is undulating and not completely flat and level.
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When I framed it, and a few of the others in this set, I used the telegraph pole as a guide, you can just see it on the extreme right side. The others in the set had a church and so I used the top of it's roof to attain the line.
 
I think it looks a little bit odd because the tree trunks are not all vertical. The telegraph pole is also still a smiggen out of kilter as well.
 
drounding said:
I think it looks a little bit odd because the tree trunks are not all vertical. The telegraph pole is also still a smiggen out of kilter as well.
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The telegraph pole has lean on it, for whatever reason, I just used it as my guide.
 
Also remember, especially if using a wide angle lens, that vertical lines towards the edge of the frame may be distorted due to the lens, so it's always best to use something more central. As others have said, use the trees and the telegraph poles to get your horizon level, then the composition should fall into place. As it it, it is just slightly off (and, as you've found, the eye can always spot 'slightly' off!)
 
It look to me that all the tree are sloping a bit to the right but that might be optical illusion. I would try to bring him slightly counterclock wise. it's hard with things such as non parallele feature (like edge of lakes...) but just do what feel the more natural when you look at it!
 
melaniejane said:
Also remember, especially if using a wide angle lens, that vertical lines towards the edge of the frame may be distorted due to the lens, so it's always best to use something more central. As others have said, use the trees and the telegraph poles to get your horizon level, then the composition should fall into place. As it it, it is just slightly off (and, as you've found, the eye can always spot 'slightly' off!)
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Yay, good answer. I guess then that I was doing it right without knowing what I was doing, if that makes sense.
 
For me, if the verticals are vertical the horizons sort themselves out. But as you say in your earlier post Brian, crop to suit yourself, its your "art" and your opinion that counts.
 
As Brian say, if it suits you then it's right. That's assuming your taking the image for your pleasure and it's not a record shot for some reason. To my eye the image does seem to lean to the right but that's not important to you unless you were trying to sell it to me or I was judging it in some club comp.
 
Looks fine to me nice shot as long as you like it Judges are always wrong unless you win.:)
 
Of course, One could say that if you don't like the composition then why take (or keep) the shot? sometimes a slightly different view point can have a massive impact.
 
metroman said:
The telegraph pole has lean on it, for whatever reason, I just used it as my guide.
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The telegraph pole AND trees are all leaning the same way, and as Farmerjim said, the image is sloping in addition to the slop on the land. That is why it looks off to me, and presumably to you as well: otherwise you'd not have asked the question.
 
Believe you eyes in most cases like this.
Mine tell me there is a slight additional slope.
I would adjust till I am comfortable with what I am seeing.
Pictures with buildings and strong true verticals need to have them level.
Landscapes need to "Look" level.
 
ChrisGilbert said:
If it looks off then it's off, no matter what the leveller says. Do you want people to be admiring your work or arguing whether it's off or not ? If it looks off then make it look right. That way there is no argument.
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I think that's a good analogy. If it looks off then it's off, I should have the strength of my own convictions. I posted a picture of Normanton Church and had the same dilemma with that one. I'll try to be more assertive with my images. Thank you everyone.
 
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