joe-fl-mt

I have been told that object extending to the corner of a picture, such as the wagon tongue in this picture from Bodie, are a "no-no". Any comments?

emrob62 Loc: NEPA

Generally, I believe, you don't want objects to disappear off the picture. I personaly don't see that as a detriment to this picture though, as the wagon is not the sole object in the pic. the additional farm lands and buildings help hold it together. It might be better with the whole tongue, but hard to say. Was it cropped or did you miss the end when taking the picture?
Good job, nice scene

nikron7 Loc: Indianapolis

Photographic compositional elements and rules are guidelines. Many photographers have made a name by beaking some of those rules. Nothing is hard and fast. It is what you feel when you take the photo that counts. That is a great photo. Believe it or not, in the psychology of photograpy, most peoples' eyes enter a photograph from the bottom left. Next opportunity you have experiment leaving space before the subject, before and behind and behind it. See what you like best. Or take the photo with space all around and test your cropping in PP. This is only my opinion.

And Welcome to the forum.

emrob62 Loc: NEPA

And a fine and valid opinion it is, nikron

photophly Loc: Old Bridge NJ

In this picture no I don't think it takes away from the composition in any way

donrent Loc: Punta Gorda , Fl

Quoting Nikron7 seems to be accurate... "It is what you feel when you take the photo that counts. That is a great photo."

You did well.....................

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

I agree, my eyes initially followed the tongue right to the subject. Good composition.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

By the way, Bodie is a great place isn't it.

joe-fl-mt

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the advice.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

One rule to ALWAYS remember.
Rules were meant to be broken!

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

I agree that the eye follows the tongue. If you were farther away you may have missed having the buildings in the distance which really add to the picture. I think you did a fine job.

judy juul Loc: Cheshire, Ct.

I LOVE that shot! It looks like a painting! I'd never change a thing!

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

The comment about rules is valid, however, one must understand the rules before they can be successfully broken. Anyone can break a rule but it will generally be broken in a good way, if you first fully understand the rule. It usually does not work, nor is it a good idea to just go around breaking the rules if you don't first undertand them, because someone said you should, so please bear that in mind.

It is more likely to come from an habitual rule breaker, who just likes to break rules, when a statement reads "rules are meant to be broken". A more informed person might say something like "rules are there for a reason, and once you understnad them properly, then and only then can you successfully break them from time to time to improve upon an image. No disrespect meant to anyone on this list, by the way, so no need to come screaming back with all sorts or responses.

Yours is a very good photo with very good composition and yes the eye is led into the photos by the tongue on the bottom left. Your eye is, however, then led out again because the tongue extends back out of the frame. And that is why this is a very good photo, but if you had included it fully inside the frame, it would have been a great photo with great composition, and there lies the difference.

Had you taken both versions, you would have seen that the image with the entire tongue inside the frame would have been more pleasing to you than the image with the tongue end missing outside of the frame.

As stated, take what feels right to you at the time, then stop and rethink or relook at the scene, through the view finder. Explore the scene with your eye, look all around the viewfinder and see if there is anything you feel could be added to get a better feel.

Try zooming out a little or stepping a few steps back or panning slightly right or left, or switching to an upright format rather than a view/landscape format. That way you get to see if your subject lends itself better to one or the other of those different view formats.

When you have the time, as in this still life, so to speak, use that time to explore all avenues of composition and angle and then you can go home and see what really feels best to the eye/brain of all those different images you took.

As for the eye always being led into the photo from bottom left, as stated by Nikron, this is not true for everyone. This is only valid for westerners and why you may ask? Because we read from left to right and that is why it feels right for us. If we were orientals or middle easterners we would be reading right to left and this photo would not feel right to us and would have been better if the tongue were on the right side, leading us into the photo's main part on the left.

In general, and again this is a rule that once it is understood, can in certain cases be broken, you should always leave negative space to the right of a head shot (if you were to leave any negative space that is) and generally have the person looking or facing somehwat to the right, rather than to the left, in a western world image. The opposite applies for the eastern world.

So to recap, the advice you have heard is, for the most part quite correct. It is always better not to have something sticking out past your frame, if it is part of the main image and if it can be avoided. In your image you could have been a little tiny bit farther away and still had the buildings in the frame, along with the whole tongue of the wagon. Hope this helps.

Cappy Loc: Wildwood, NJ

I would have taken the photo further back and would have probably cropped it to what you are showing. Don't think it needs more of the tounge. Good pic.

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

Very well put. Fine post.