When the subject is facing right at you like that a center crop works just fine as it does in this capture. Rick's idea of a tighter crop is also good but that can be said of almost any capture.
Harry http://behret.smugmug.com/NANPA member How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
Back in More Joy of Photography, Kodak editors pointed out that by centering an image (rather than rule-of-thirding it) you can increase the humor of an image. This is especially true for small children, animals, and anything else that would upstage W.C. Fields.
Portraits are exempt from the rule of thirds. An educational exercise is to use these rules to review a broad cross section of classic master photographs. After you have trashed the work of Dorothea Lange and others, so will realize that dogmatic, closed-minded rules can destroy art. Art is not scored by adherence to rules.
As for your photo posted here, at a minimum I would concentrate on the subject by doing a tighter crop, as suggested by Veque. The extraneous extra lawn dilutes and distracts from the otherwise strong image of the animal. There are many options to explore here. The broadest one is to retain all of the animal, including the feet, hands, back, everything. The narrowest one is to crop to just a portion of the face, similar to Ric's suggestion. Try even just the eyes and just a part of the face. All the variations can be interesting in their own particular way. The whole animal would be very illustrative (as for a biology book). The very close crop of the face would focus much more on the feeling subject....
In any case, learn to judge the composition of the photo by how it makes you feel. Sometimes the "rules" help you zero-in on what a photo is doing, or not doing, for you. But fear of "rules" can also interfere with getting to those feelings. In any case, the art is not achieved by rote application of arbitrary rules....
You have some very good feed back here . John said it well and the rule of thirds is a rule to be broken by the artist.
The best thing you can get from this unlike Rics shot your shot .Yours works very well from the crop you used to the ones that have been suggested .That happens when you get a great capture , like this one .Your eyes go right to the subjects eyes and the body language goes well.You can crop it as John said many ways ,you can get 3--4 shots from this one capture. Any comments that say you should have more light or this or that ?? we shoot things that do not model or care for flash.So when any of us get a great capture ,we have been lucky and have worked hard --both very nice shot very good Df and focus
Thanks Everyone
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It's really appreciated. I've tried several different crops and its amazing how each can change the "feeling" of the photo as was mentioned. Ric I think you posted a nice shot. I tried a tight crop with mine and it created a very serious feeling. Thanks again everyone.
Comments
www.PhotographyByHenrik.com
Much more powerful that way.
What do you think?
http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
As for your photo posted here, at a minimum I would concentrate on the subject by doing a tighter crop, as suggested by Veque. The extraneous extra lawn dilutes and distracts from the otherwise strong image of the animal. There are many options to explore here. The broadest one is to retain all of the animal, including the feet, hands, back, everything. The narrowest one is to crop to just a portion of the face, similar to Ric's suggestion. Try even just the eyes and just a part of the face. All the variations can be interesting in their own particular way. The whole animal would be very illustrative (as for a biology book). The very close crop of the face would focus much more on the feeling subject....
In any case, learn to judge the composition of the photo by how it makes you feel. Sometimes the "rules" help you zero-in on what a photo is doing, or not doing, for you. But fear of "rules" can also interfere with getting to those feelings. In any case, the art is not achieved by rote application of arbitrary rules....
---John
The best thing you can get from this unlike Rics shot your shot .Yours works very well from the crop you used to the ones that have been suggested .That happens when you get a great capture , like this one .Your eyes go right to the subjects eyes and the body language goes well.You can crop it as John said many ways ,you can get 3--4 shots from this one capture. Any comments that say you should have more light or this or that ?? we shoot things that do not model or care for flash.So when any of us get a great capture ,we have been lucky and have worked hard --both
“PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE ‘JAZZ’ FOR THE EYES…”
http://jwear.smugmug.com/
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. It's really appreciated. I've tried several different crops and its amazing how each can change the "feeling" of the photo as was mentioned. Ric I think you posted a nice shot. I tried a tight crop with mine and it created a very serious feeling. Thanks again everyone.
Best answer!