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Here are a couple of quick tips if you like to shoot landscapes. First, place the horizon line—the point where sky meets land or water—either 1/3 from the top or 1/3 from the bottom of the image. It’s much more interesting than perfectly centered.

You’ll usually be able to decide whether to place it 1/3 from the top or bottom based on which element of the picture is most interesting. Blue skies are nice in theory, but a bit boring in photography. Big, puffy clouds, on the other hand, are highly photogenic!

high horizon

Comparing the two pictures above, we see that the sky held more visual interest that day.

tilt

Also, try to keep your camera level, something that I obviously failed to do in this shot. It makes you feel like you’re going to fall and roll down the hill, doesn’t it?

Fortunately, shots like this fix easily in editing software. For instance, when I crop in Lightroom I can grab the corner of the image and level it. Grid lines even appear to help me!

What do you prefer to shoot? People or landscapes?

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