Breaking the line

A friend said that with a landscape shot it’s best not to have something in your image breaking the horizon. Is this true? Helena Mooney

This is another one of those so-called ‘rules of photography’ that have an element of truth about them,

but aren’t absolute facts. It is a compositional device I will consider when I frame up a landscape photo, but sometimes it’s impossible not to have something breaking the horizon, so I think it is a ‘soft’ rule.

The idea of avoiding an object breaking the horizon can also be useful in wildlife photography and portraiture, so it’s not just a landscape thing. In my opinion, it really refers to a solid object that could distract or destroy the natural simplicity of your photograph.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are going to break any rule, break it with confidence. So, for example, if you were going to intentionally have a wonky horizon, make sure it is really wonky so it is obviously deliberate!

If you look at my landscape image above, you’ll see I have placed the highest point of the headland just under the horizon line so that it keeps the horizon line clean. I think this was the right decision, because even a small amount of the land cutting across that line would be distracting here. So on balance, your friend was correct in saying this, but there will be times when it impossible to achieve, so never be a slave to it.