AnnaZ said:I took this yesterday of the Spousal Unit ....
If I may be a bit critical:
The overall photo has a lot of potential for conceptual building. It's a great pic, but I think it really misses the mark that it could be. In this kind of photo, the composition is very critical. For me, as is, it is very static compared to what I think it could be. I do like that the person takes up very little real estate in the pic. If you blow up the photo for a pic on the wall, I think you will be wishing he was even smaller!
If your real purpose is to convey mankind being so small in nature, then I suppose it's OK. But aesthetically, it is still jarring to me that the person is in the exact, exact center of the image. As is, he is still
the focal point, and if you want the grandeur of nature to be the focus, he needs to be smaller yet. Then the motion of the waves would be forefront and the vastness accentuated.
Getting back to my static comment, I rarely follow the rule of two-thirds to the letter, but the approach is well founded, and its purpose should always be in the back of every photographer's mind. Think for a moment, how the picture story changes if the person was off-center to the front left: he would be
entering the pic, providing your imagination to build from there. Placed in the upper right, he would be
leaving the scene, providing a different scenario.
This is an unusual pic where shadows would mostly likely work against you. Unless you are shooting into the sun, the direction of a prominent shadow would be off-kilter, and likely ruin the composition. As your photo is, you found the correct light environment that would not show shadows.
Even better than that, what we are seeing as a "shadow" is actually a reflection. It will
always orient between you and the subject, from whatever position you choose to snap the photo. The reflection accentuates movement and becomes part of the story telling.
Be aware, however, that although this orientation usually works in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. That orientation caused a viewer's eye to move in said direction, and if that is the direction you want, than perfect! If, for instance, the man is in the upper right of the photo
as you snap the shot, the reflection would be skewed toward the center of the photo (where you as the photographer are) rather than directly behind the man, If you want him walking away from
you, the photographer, then perfect! If you want the reflection to be directly behind him, then
you, the photographer must be directly behind him, and crop the photo afterwards.
Obviously, the farther away the subject is, the less prominent this reflection off-kilter will be. At the distance in your photo, I'm not sure it would make a difference. If you had take a photo of your husband with him already in the upper right, it would show the reflection pointing to you, as the photographer. If you did take that shot, why don't you post it so we can all see?
After all, Dave explicitly created this forum to learn photography, and NOT to just show pretty pictures.
