tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

This is a composition question - which image conveys a stronger impact to you? The one with the fence seems to me to add depth and expanse to the image, while the cropped image emphasizes the house itself at the expense of a wider view. Which appeals more to you, and, importantly to me, WHY do you prefer it?

Thanks in advance for taking the time to share your thoughts and suggestions!

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rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Tommy, to me the first one shows the setting. The second one, the subject. Both are your usual good quality. So, it's a toss-up as to what you wish to convey in the photograph. I think if it's the setting, a bit more of the surrounding area would be needed, not just a snippet of the fence.
--Bob

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I prefer the second shot without the fence. The fence adds depth to the image, but, to me, is slightly distracting. I prefer the second shot because it’s almost like a portrait of sorts. The old house is the main subject, and I think the fence detracts a bit from it. Either way, both are excellent photos and frame worthy.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Tommy, again excellent work. If I were to keep the fence I would have started it in the bottom right corner as almost a faux leading line. But then again, it would probably change the entire composition and the house might not have the same impact. The 2nd composition works a little better in my opinion.

Latsok Loc: Recently moved to Washington State.

Although both photos are excellent, I like the first one best. To me it conveys not just the interesting structure, but more importantly, it gives the viewer a sense of location and it's isolation from other structure. It is fenced off, it is alone, abandoned and lonely. I like it a lot.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

Good points all. Now that you mention it, I can see how a "setting" image would benefit from presenting more of the surrounding area. Thanks, Bob!

JFCoupe Loc: Kent, Washington

As mentioned, both are very good images. I tend to stay with the first one as it tells more of a story about the scene to me.

You post is similar to a question I have been asking about my images as I am in the middle of reviewing all of my 2021 images. I often take a wider shot of a scene and then one with a tighter crop. I am finding that often if I delete one or the other, it is often the tighter crop.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

In inclusion of the fence seems to be to erecting a barrier to getting to the subject. Although not as surely as having the fence all along the lower edge of the image. If you could have found an open gate for inclusion as a frame to the image I think it would have been a better choice if you needed to include the fence. In the end it is the maker's choice and his/her message.

GrannyAnnie

I agree 👍

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I love them both. I think I like the closer one. It makes you wonder about who may have lived there and wish it could tell you the stories. It must have been a really nice home. I hate to see them fade away.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I like the balance in the first shot more.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

I prefer the first image because the fence line takes a diagonal pass across the first 3rd of the image and adds depth and perspective to the total area. The trees which lean toward the roof line are also more properly displayed to add to the total image quality as well. I think it tells a better story of the situation from my way of thinking about it.

I would keep the fence.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Nice shots. I prefer the second one.

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

Everyone sees what they look for in an image. And since no two persons are exactly alike....

The individual replies/responses thus far --and hopefully there'll be more-- bear this out. Each is essentially different, and each is essentially valid, but all for different reasons. And that's as it should inevitably be.

Your question, however, concerns composition and its (potential?) role in providing whatever 'impact' an image can/does/could/or might convey. My own thoughts (and predilections, and practices) on composition are many and all over the map (literally and pan-culturally speaking), but they tend to distill more toward a 'this element has been placed here rather than there for a particular reason', and that reason is usually more purposefully thematic than it may be simply 'compositional' in the conventional sense. In effect, what I strive for, above any and all other considerations, is a what is the relationship of each element --or tone, texture, color, or any of a number of other visual possibilities contained in the scene or subject-- to each other mindset, and how can I best actuate that set of relationships in the final image?

A fence can be something as simple (or hackneyed?) as being a "leading line", or it can make any number of statements, depending on its placement. It can say, for example, something that was similarly said in the 80's Buzzcocks song, "Why Can't I Touch It", or in Plato's parable of the cave, or many of the paintings of Turner, or in the painted figures on the walls in Lascaux. Or none of the above, depending on YOUR point of view, not mine.

<edit/addendum:> Looks to me like you weren't being fenced in, you were being fenced out. Not an uncommon thing in life sometimes. Unless, of course, you intend for the house to be the speaker rather than yourself. Which is fine, too, I 'spect.

phlash46 Loc: Westchester County, New York

Agree.