Lesson Learned

Yup, this is the same duck from Wednesday's post (different pose). I'm using it as an example of a lesson I recently learned. I mentioned previously that I had gone down the Cape to see travel photographer, Rick Sammon, give a lecture. During that lecture he talked about good composition and warned us about not decapitating the subject with the horizon line. While he talked about horizon line in regards to landscapes and gave examples with the land/sea, I think it pertains to any line that crosses across the screen at eye level. This would be similar to video production where we were always taught to make sure we did not have plants or other objects behind the subject so that it looked as if something was growing out of their head.

As you can see in this image the line of the building is crossing behind the duck's head. When I was shooting the photo I did not notice the line. When I imported the pictures into Lightroom I noticed that half of them had the line going through the duck's head. Before the lecture I may not have noticed this as much but with these duck images it really jumped out at me.  It's nice to know that things Rick discussed in his lecture are actually sinking into my head. Next time I'll hopefully see the horizon line and adjust the shot before taking the picture.

I still like this image even though I keep focusing back on the line decapitating the duck's head (actually I only decapitated his eyes and forehead). I think if I blurred the background more it might not be as noticeable.  I love that the duck let me get so close to him.  I was able to capture the detail in the feathers and even the creases in his legs.