Your advice required please: I took a photo of this beetle with a water background. One is more close-up. Which one is a better composition. Please comment,thanks...

peterjoseph

I took a photo of this beetle with a water background. One is more close-up. Which one is a better composition. Please comment,thanks

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jeweler53

The second one.

randave2001 Loc: Richmond

I feel the second one highlights your main subject best. Interesting beetle.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

The second, it eliminates distracting information.

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

# 2. the spider web adds interest to me

leftj Loc: Texas

peterjoseph wrote:

I took a photo of this beetle with a water background. One is more close-up. Which one is a better composition. Please comment,thanks

Without a doubt the second is the better composition.

CO

Using the rule of thirds would be good. The beetle is too centered in the frame. Here is a photo that shows the rule of thirds. Try cropping some off the left side of the first photo and a little off the bottom.

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Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CO wrote:

Using the rule of thirds would be good. The beetle is too centered in the frame. Here is a photo that shows the rule of thirds. Try cropping some off the left side of the first photo and a little off the bottom.

...His is close enough for me. It doesn't have to be PRECISELY at the thirds intersection point....

Then, in your example, do you put the guy's head at the intersection point or his body.....

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I'd like the top cropped a bit further, but the second is oddly positioned. If just kept dead center, look at the top of the original and find a dead leaf / flower entering the frame on the upper left. If you bring in the top margin that far into the frame to remove that distraction, see if that amount (or similar amount) can be applied to the other edges to achieve a standard size image, either 1x1 or 3x4. Or, even going back to 3x5 or wider like 16x10, as the red background flowers on the bottom will be hard to remove via cropping. Instead, those bright distractions in the background should by cloned-away to remove, to leave space at the bottom of the frame. You don't have to put the yellow bud / beetle exactly at 1/3 intersection, you also can place 'major elements' along the 1/3 guides, leaving space below the yellow bud as needed to get the yellow bud somehow touching or passing through the bottom 1/3 horizontal guide.

peterjoseph

Thank you very much for your useful advice
Peter

CO

Longshadow wrote:

...His is close enough for me. It doesn't have to be PRECISELY at the thirds intersection point....

Then, in your example, do you put the guy's head at the intersection point or his body.....

It doesn't have to be perfect. With the rule of thirds you can place the main subject at an intersection or at a line that is one-third of the way in from the edge. When using the rule of thirds on horizons, one would place the horizon one-third of the way from the top of the frame or one-third of the way from the bottom of the frame.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CO wrote:

It doesn't have to be perfect. With the rule of thirds you can place the main subject at an intersection or at a line that is one-third of the way in from the edge. When using the rule of thirds on horizons, one would place the horizon one-third of the way from the top of the frame or one-third of the way from the bottom of the frame.

ABOUT one third... I simply start there and move as desired.
It depends on the subject and the surrounding elements that are in the image.
And it's not a steadfast rule.
I place my horizons about one third, mostly. What pleases me the most, aesthetically.
Sometimes they do cut about the middle. Sometimes way at the top or bottom.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The first rule of Photography is know all the rules and don't talk about them.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CHG_CANON wrote:

The first rule of Photography is know all the rules and don't talk about them.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I think you did a nice job on them. Color is good snd you were mindful of the background and framing. Good job hiding the specular highlight. It would be very distracting. One of those two focuses attention on the subject more than the other. It is more pleasing to look at and has fewer distractions.

Which one do you like better? And why?