Attempts at decent composition

[michellepotter]

I decided to try to go through this online photography course, but since her forums seem pretty dead I'm posting my assignments here for critique.

With these shots I was working on composition -- rule of 3s, etc. -- so please keep your critiques mainly about that.

For the flag I tried to align the flag pole according to the rule of 3s. I don't know if I like that the bottom of the flag is out of the frame, but the wind was minimal and I was trying to keep some trees out of the background. I had to straighten this one because I was experimenting with tilting my camera different ways and I didn't like the tilt.



The next two are leaves from some kind of plant in my neighbor's backyard. Technically my shots are supposed to be "abstract," but this next one is the closest I got. I did have to crop it because there was some weird bug thing on the very edge.



The second leaf shot is supposed to be a diagonal line. That's my favorite because I didn't do any post-production on it at all and I like how it came out.



And part of my neighbor's trellis; I cropped out some leaves from another plant:



Well, how's my composition? Any tips on that front?

[clockdoc]

I think I like your last one best. On the flag shot, I'm not sure why you are trying to align the pole using the rule of thirds. As I understand the rule, the major point of interest would be place at the point where the 4 lines that break up the frame into thirds intersect. In this case the center of the star field would be at one of those points. The colored leaf makes for an interesting abstract as does the other leaf for the diagonal line. However your instructor may have had some other idea in mind for the diagonal line assignment.

[jenjen]

I like the last one and the second one.

On the last one, I think I'd like it more if the vine leaf on the top left were whole rather than cut off. But it's got a nice mix of symmetrical and contrasting elements and a really pleasing color palette.

The second one is good too - filling the frame, great colors and shapes in that leaf. You might even boost the color for a riotous tropical look.

I think the diagonal lines study could be improved by cropping - it's obviously a leaf, you don't need to show the whole shape. Zoom in on some of those lines and fill more of the frame with the big leaf.

[michellepotter]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

I think I like your last one best. On the flag shot, I'm not sure why you are trying to align the pole using the rule of thirds. As I understand the rule, the major point of interest would be place at the point where the 4 lines that break up the frame into thirds intersect. In this case the center of the star field would be at one of those points.

Hmmm, that's a good point. The pole is really not the focus of attention.

Originally Posted by clockdoc

The colored leaf makes for an interesting abstract as does the other leaf for the diagonal line. However your instructor may have had some other idea in mind for the diagonal line assignment.

Could you expound on this? I don't really know one diagonal line from another.

Jenjen, what do you think of these crops? I'll try re-shooting tomorrow; I don't plan on moving on from this lesson quite yet.

Closer in on the diagonal leaf:


A different alignment that gets in the top leaf but still cuts out the ones I didn't like:

[Nicole]

I think that your second crop on the diagonal leaf is better It gets rid of the kind of distracting grass that was previously in front of the leaf.