Which of these is the better composition?

[mikesieber]

I shot two different focal lengths of this church on the hill and I'm having a tough time deciding which is the better shot compositionally speaking.

I'd like to hear your thoughts as to which is better (if either) and why.

I intended to get these during the time of good light, but the rain clouds started rolling in, and I didn't get the shot I was hoping for.

Both were shot with a Nikon D70, tripod mounted with a 18-70 lens at f/22. ISO 200, shutter 1/60.

Both were essentially the same focal length, I just repositioned the tripod.

[skiier3_9]

For me - the chruch is a little too small (in both pictures) and seems more part of the background.

I would choose the first one - mostly because the church is a tad bigger.

[mikesieber]

Thanks. I'm leaning towards that one too.

[mosgood]

There's a church in the photograph? Both are nice, but unless the church is more visible, it's more of a landscape to me. Not saying that the shots are bad...just that it's too hard to make out a building.

[dlambert]

I actually like the second one better. I also can't really make out a church, so the composition of the second photo seems a little nicer because it shows the whole bale of hay and the road adds another point of interest to the photo.

[IABoomer]

Originally Posted by dlambert

I actually like the second one better. I also can't really make out a church, so the composition of the second photo seems a little nicer because it shows the whole bale of hay and the road adds another point of interest to the photo.

This.

If anything, I'd like to see the composition pushed further left to show more road and leave the church with the trees pretty tight to the right of the frame. The extra road detail might do better to direct the viewer's attention to that spot, even if there's not much detail there because it's so far.

[commongrackle]

If you were going for the church as a focal point, I think you were too far away. In just terms of composition itself, I would say the second image has the best composition, but neither really has a strong focal point.