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Former Google Contributor

Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Hi fellow fotogs!

 

I posted recently about the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, and today I want to tell you about something that comes from that: the importance of keeping your horizon leveled in your images.

 

First, you should never put the horizon in the middle of the frame, because that would feel akward when seeing the photo. Instead, the ideal location for the horizon is using the lines marked by the rule of thirds or the golden ratio. In this picture that I took of Toronto's skyline some years ago, you can see that the horizon is in the lower third of the frame. In this case I decided to give the sky two thirds of the frame because I loved those dark clouds.

 

horizonline.jpg

 

And, of course, you should keep the horizon line leveled. If it's crooked, even by a few degrees, the viewer will notice it instantly and it'll give the image a weird feeling. Unless we want to provoke that feeling, of course. Most modern cameras and smartphones allow us to include a grid in the screen to help guide us in keeping the horizon leveled. If your photos still have that problem, it's easily solved with Photoshop, but that requires another post (in case anybody is interested).

 

As I said in the other post, first you need to know the rules before start breaking them 🙂

 

Local Guides Community Program Manager
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16 comments
Level 8

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

@LuisRG

Thank you for the tips.

Level 8

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Important advice, thank you.

Former Google Contributor

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Glad that you liked it, @AliJaberTai

Local Guides Community Program Manager
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Former Google Contributor

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Happy to hear that @Paresh_Ratan

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Level 8

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

@LuisRG

thanks for the tips 🙂

Ciao!

Former Google Contributor

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Great tip @LuisRG

 

Sometimes the moment is fleeting - for example, there could be a bird flying in your picture and you want to capture it before it disappear. As a result, the picture could be tilted because you had to shoot fast. But I normally level my pictures in post processing (on phone/desktop) and it helps alot. Sometimes I even cropped my photos to attain a better picture that adhere with the rule of thirds. 

Former Google Contributor

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Thanks @YanniY.

 

Sometimes I do that too, cropping the foto afterwards. Not only to keep the proportions but also to focus on a specific item in the frame. And yes, sometimes you shoot so fast that you have to level the picture in post-processing. Doing that with Ps is not so difficult, maybe I can put together a small how-to guide 🙂

Local Guides Community Program Manager
Due to the volume of private messages Google Moderators receive, I do not read or respond to private messages. Please post publicly so others may benefit from your discussion. Thank you.
Former Google Contributor

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Good idea! @LuisRG

Level 10

Re: Photo Tip: Keep your horizon leveled

Thanks for the tip, Luis. 


@LuisR wrote:

If your photos still have that problem, it's easily solved with Photoshop, but that requires another post (in case anybody is interested).

 


The image can be straightened within a minute on phone using Snapseed, a photo editing app by Google's subsidiary - Nik Software. You can download Snapseed from Play Store and iTunes