Although He Knows 'the Rule,' Juan Chamorro Prefers to Shoot Reflections with Centered Horizons

Although he has had some photos published, Juan Chamorro's photography is mostly a hobby to be enjoyed while he's on his frequent nature walks. Most of his images are made near his home in Galicia, in the northwestern corner of Spain. "Galicia is a magical land of contrasts," says Juan, "which always makes for beautiful scenery and interesting photography.

"When I began studying photography, one of the first rules I learned about composing landscape images was to not focus on the horizon and not place it in the center of the image. However, I have found many times when I think a centered horizon works well for me and enables me to fill my foreground with a beautiful reflection of the sky -- either in a quiet pond or lake or on the wave-soaked shore of a beach. The photo above was taken in Playa America with my girlfriend looking into the sunset to balance the composition. To balance the strong sunlight on the horizon with the foreground, I used my Singh-Ray 3-stop Reverse ND Grad. An LB Warming Polarizer helped me control the glare from the wet sand. Until shortly before I captured this image, the evening light didn't look at all promising.

"This sunrise image is one of several I've taken at a nearby reservoir I pass almost every morning. On this special morning, the reflection of the sky in the water revealed every color that was in the heavens. Here again I used my 3-stop Reverse ND Grad placed with the darkest part of the gradient on the brightest area in the water and the trees.

"The estuary of Foz on the north coast of Galicia is a residential area and wildlife habitat where many migratory birds flock despite being surrounded by pretty houses. At low tide, most of what we see here is earth and mud where the birds feed. Luckily the seas gives us these beautiful reflections. For this image I used my Singh-Ray Gold-N-Blue Polarizer to capture the wonderful golden highlights this filter is known for. In all three of these photos, I used a Nikon D80 with the same Sigma 10-20mm lens."

You can view many more of Juan's images on his Photo.net gallery page and keep up with his projects by visiting his Spanish-language blog or Google translated into English here. OR visit his Facebook page, also in Spanish.