diff --git a/doc/config.rst b/doc/config.rst
index 355cd19d05..5224658dd4 100644
--- a/doc/config.rst
+++ b/doc/config.rst
@@ -1117,6 +1117,12 @@ These options influence LaTeX output.
         "Rejne".  You can also set this to ``''`` to disable fncychap.
      ``'preamble'``
         Additional preamble content, default empty.
+     ``'figure_align'``
+        Latex figure float alignment, default 'htbp' (here, top, bottom, page).
+        Whenever an image doesn't fit into the current page, it wil be
+        'floated' into the next page but may be preceeded by any other text.
+        If you don't like this behavior, use 'H' which will disable floating
+        and position figures strictly in the order they appear in the source.
      ``'footer'``
         Additional footer content (before the indices), default empty.
 
diff --git a/sphinx/quickstart.py b/sphinx/quickstart.py
index 26b420d075..1241e09873 100644
--- a/sphinx/quickstart.py
+++ b/sphinx/quickstart.py
@@ -246,6 +246,9 @@ latex_elements = {
 
 # Additional stuff for the LaTeX preamble.
 #'preamble': '',
+
+# Latex figure (float) alignment
+#'figure_align': 'htbp',
 }
 
 # Grouping the document tree into LaTeX files. List of tuples
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/latex.py b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index dd9a542122..9d3c017958
--- a/sphinx/writers/latex.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ class LaTeXTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):
         'footer':          '',
         'printindex':      '\\printindex',
         'transition':      '\n\n\\bigskip\\hrule{}\\bigskip\n\n',
+        'figure_align':    'htbp',
     }
 
     # sphinx specific document classes
@@ -1006,7 +1007,8 @@ class LaTeXTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):
                 # TODO non vertical space for other alignments.
                 align = '\\begin{flush%s}' % node.attributes['align']
                 align_end = '\\end{flush%s}' % node.attributes['align']
-            self.body.append('\\begin{figure}[htbp]%s\n' % align)
+            self.body.append('\\begin{figure}[%s]%s\n' % (
+                self.elements['figure_align'], align))
             if any(isinstance(child, nodes.caption) for child in node):
                 self.body.append('\\capstart\n')
             self.context.append(ids + align_end + '\\end{figure}\n')