The Frame. Exercise 7: Positioning the horizon

The horizon naturally divides a landscape between sky and land usually in a straight line.  If there are no other elements in the picture the positioning of the horizon or this line is very important. 

For this exercise I took a series of shots with the horizon in different positions.  Below are the results.

Centrally

This makes for a very static composition with little movement.

Prominance to the foreground

I don't feel the foreground is interesting enough to take up so much of the image.  If the shot had more in the foreground this would be a suitable composition.

2/3 sky and 1/3 land

In this shot the sky is very angry and is more interesting than the foreground so this composition works well.

Prominance in the background

This shot takes in even more of the angry sky and gives a greater sense of movement and tension in the shot.

This is the composition that works best for this particular shot.

From studying art at school I am usually use the rule of thirds to compose landscape shots.  This is my first time breaking that rule and shooting very little of the foreground and then very little of the sky. 

If you have an interesting foreground and if the sky is very dull I think it works best to include more foreground in the shot.  However, if your sky is where all the action is including as little as possible of the foreground makes for a dynamic shot.