That kind of red is always unexpected once the weather turns, isn’t it?
I do find myself wanting to ask a question about a technical choice you make here. I’d expect you to crop it so that the limb emerged from the lower left corner instead of just above it. I also expect the berry (I guess that’s what it is) to land either a little higher or a little lower, in accordance with the Iron Law of Thirds that Greg loves so much. But you don’t do either and I wonder why. I’m still trying to learn all I can about composition and when I see “rules” violated by good shooters I always suspect there’s a learning opportunity there.
Some of my sensibilities about composition probably derive from designing about 25,000 newspaper pages. I think more about the path the eye follows than where specific parts of an image fall. As a page designer, I was trained in Mario Garcia’s concept of “center of visual impact” — to me, that’s the location in a design that first draws the viewer’s eye. That does not mean, however, that the center of visual impact ought to be in the center of a page — or, in this case, the center of an image. Clearly, that’s the case here. The berry is the CVI. The eye naturally follows up one branch and down another.
I first framed this as you noted … with the branch emerging from the lower left of the image. But I just didn’t like it that way. Instinct? Who knows? But I like it better this way.
Aha. I knew there had to be a thought process here, and I probably should have guessed page design had something to do with it. I’m working hard to follow the rules these days – I’m either using the rule of thirds or the golden section religiously – and it’s helpful to think about cases where they can be violated, and how, and why. Thanks.
I’ve never paid attention to those rules. Perhaps subconsciously I adhered to them. But I think you’ll discover, after shooting thousands of images, that you own internal sensibility will guide you best.
5280 Lens Mafia 
Lonely, desperate and at the end of it all, from the looks of it…
That kind of red is always unexpected once the weather turns, isn’t it?
I do find myself wanting to ask a question about a technical choice you make here. I’d expect you to crop it so that the limb emerged from the lower left corner instead of just above it. I also expect the berry (I guess that’s what it is) to land either a little higher or a little lower, in accordance with the Iron Law of Thirds that Greg loves so much. But you don’t do either and I wonder why. I’m still trying to learn all I can about composition and when I see “rules” violated by good shooters I always suspect there’s a learning opportunity there.
Some of my sensibilities about composition probably derive from designing about 25,000 newspaper pages. I think more about the path the eye follows than where specific parts of an image fall. As a page designer, I was trained in Mario Garcia’s concept of “center of visual impact” — to me, that’s the location in a design that first draws the viewer’s eye. That does not mean, however, that the center of visual impact ought to be in the center of a page — or, in this case, the center of an image. Clearly, that’s the case here. The berry is the CVI. The eye naturally follows up one branch and down another.
I first framed this as you noted … with the branch emerging from the lower left of the image. But I just didn’t like it that way. Instinct? Who knows? But I like it better this way.
Aha. I knew there had to be a thought process here, and I probably should have guessed page design had something to do with it. I’m working hard to follow the rules these days – I’m either using the rule of thirds or the golden section religiously – and it’s helpful to think about cases where they can be violated, and how, and why. Thanks.
I’ve never paid attention to those rules. Perhaps subconsciously I adhered to them. But I think you’ll discover, after shooting thousands of images, that you own internal sensibility will guide you best.