Often I'm presented with a scene and take several shots of it from slightly different angles, thus leaving the decision on composition to later.
This gallery contains images that show an example of this dilemma. Here's four shots of one of those vast water sprayers that straddle the fields, (near Studio Lavalette), and these are my views on each image:
Water Sprayer 1 - the horizon is in about the place and I like the tubing that stretches top left to bottom right horizon. You really get a sense of the enormity of the sprayer. The problem is the left hand wheel is too closely framed against the left vertical edge of the photo.
Water Sprayer 2 - if I'd been able to stand about 30 foot taller this would have been interesting. The issue here is that the sprayer's tubing and wheels get lost after the third set of wheels and the huge span of the sprayer is, (visually speaking), folding-in on itself.
Water Sprayer 3 - this shot has the same issues as Water Sprayer 1, only worse....the right hand wheel has been cropped-out of the shot. The span of the tubing is, however, OK.
Water Sprayer 4 - this is the best shot of the four. The tubing span works well across the picture, the horizon is good, and the placement of the wheels is about equidistant from the right and left vertical edges of the photo. Altogether this is, composition-wise, the best image.
The "Which shot works best?" question is always an interesting subject to debate and one that I'll be covering in our Photo HERO Courses - to learn more, click here.
