RKastner Loc: Davenport, FL

For me, while "rules" and the like help, composition is what I like to see...it's something I just know. When you're beginning it's good to know the rules and guidelines. Once you're comfortable with them, you have to do what you like to see in your photos and what you like in others. While it's it nice to be "technically correct", everyone's "composition eye" is different. It's what makes each of our styles unique.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

I think most do it in camera and refine it in post.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Ayuh.

Add to that: ask yourself what is it about the subject that made you stop and look to begin with? What aspect do you want to emphasize? Lines, textures, colors, relation to other elements, shadows and forms, humor, drama, minimalism, repeating patterns, on and on. Which focal length, exposure and depth of field will aid in telling the story?

HRoss Loc: Longmont, CO

For me, when I see sorting I feel I want to capture, I frame the area in my viewfinder, I may consider the entire image as the composition, or I visualize a part of the image as the composition. I may try and re-frame with the lens (zoom nor out), or leave it for PP. As some others have said earlier in this post, for me most often it's a gut sense.

MJPerini

The Painter Includes, the Photographer Excludes. The Painter begins with a blank canvas, the Photographer is nearly always in a visually crowded world so we exclude in order to concentrate and organize.
Before we get to composition, we need to ask ourselves what is this picture ABOUT.
If we answer that it will drive effective composition.
Just as the technical side of photography has to be mastered to the point that it is second nature,
The same is true of organizing visual space to make a composition that helps tell the story we are trying to tell.
And this is also something that needs to be second nature. The more we internalize great art and great photographs, the richer our instinctual compositional ability will reenforce our vision.

Photography has immense power of its own..... George Bernard Shaw said "I would happily trade ALL the paintings of Jesus for one snapshot" (approximate quote) We need to make the most of that ability to be authentic.

One of the best ways to do that is to learn how to not press the button on the mediocre. Pre editing if you will.
Make the button press Important. By slowing down and tapping into our stored memory of great work, Our work is often lifted.
Not a thing in the world wrong with knowing rules that have been derived from deconstructing great art, weather Thirds or Golden rectangles, Harmonic Armatures and the like--- all can be effective ways to organize space or draw attention , but to work, they all have to be internalized so we have the ability to unconsciously choose IN THE MOMENT .
That is why we should not worry about "Our approach to composition" as though one way could possibly be better than the others. It would be like saying 1/60 sec is the best shutter speed.

delder Loc: Maryland

Basically the same here!
I keep e-learning NOT to crop too tight in my original shot. This allows straightening, aspect ratio changes, and print cropping.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

I don't have a problem with horizons being half way up or subjects being in the centre of the frame. It would worry me if all of my shots were like that but they're not. I don't even do that often enough for it to be called a recurring theme. Just because it would be a mistake to do it all the time doesn't mean it's a mistake to do it at all. I'm happy to make use of the horizontal centre line, the vertical centre line and the dead centre as I see fit because I'm a long way from seeing those as my only options. And I haven't the slightest intention of excluding those options because of some "rule" telling me I should avoid them.

MrBob Loc: lookout Mtn. NE Alabama

You state that stuff SO WELL.... You need to just get Semi-retired. We need to "See" you here more !

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

At 68, after making photographs seriously for 56 years, I use a little bit of everything. It's all intuitive, now. I don't sit and analyze a scene. I look through the viewfinder and if time permits, I move the camera until I've included what I want to see, placed it where I want it, excluded what doesn't work with the scene, and then when the time is right, I make exposures.

I may wind up with a rule-of-thirds, golden triangle, alphabet shape, leading lines, vanishing lines, layer cake, or something else, or a blend of styles. It just happens. My instincts come from looking at lots of great art and photographs for decades and internalizing what works. Being merciless in judging my own work helps, too.*

I'm not one to worry too much about in-camera composition if my vantage point can't be controlled, or if there is no time to move, or if I have the wrong lens. I go for the moment when that is what is important. If I have to crop, I have no qualms about that. Frankly, many images can be cropped several different ways, and each crop will "say" something different. Other images must be cropped because the capture wasn't composed properly for the intended usage.

For still life work, I take my time. In the studio, it is all about light and details. Add timing if a portrait is the goal.

As a serious photographer, I worked for a yearbook advisor for four years in high school. As an AV/video producer, I worked for an art director for eight years. Both were merciless when they needed to be, and I soon learned what worked for each of them. My own preferences are in between their habits, somewhere. Making 35mm slides was a completely different discipline from giving publications editors "flexible" images they could crop to fit a layout. Fortunately, we had a sophisticated slide copying setup. With it, we could crop to recompose, and enhance images when needed.

*I believe most creative people do something similar. Creative process fascinates me. I'm currently following a young rock band by listening to all their formative works as children, and to interviews with them by industry insiders. Amazingly, but unsurprisingly, the music THEY listen to often has NOTHING to do with what they write and play! They hear a lot of classical, jazz, K-pop (!), folk, rock, country, and other genres. Consequently, they use a little of everything in their own compositions. It's what makes their music fresh and interesting. One song will be hard rock. The next will be a heart-wrenching tragic ballad. Somehow, they match mood to message as well as the best. It works for them; at 19, 22, and 24, they've been together for ten years, produced an EP and three albums, have a five year record contract, and they're touring the Americas and Europe — nearly 200 dates in the last two years. Best of all, they are real musicians, not manufactured image from a corporate behemoth.

Best advice I can give? Go out and photograph something. The more you exercise your skills, the better you get. A course of photo education is useful, to a point, but don't take it too seriously. If it tastes like cult Kool-Aid, spit it out and try another approach. Creativity should be a fluid process. You can learn and follow rules, but you really grow when you learn to break them in the right circumstances.

FEED YOUR HEAD. I'm NOT singing White Rabbit here...** I'm just talking about looking at great art, great photography, and great design. I still find inspiration from other photographers useful. Someone always teaches me something. I tuck it away in my subconscious, to be burped out when needed.

**Jefferson Airplane reference to their radical song from the '60s about drugs

jaredjacobson

Consider these videos:

Shorter: https://youtu.be/BvossQjpmmk?si=_QJM7skWGIh22rI3

Longer: https://youtu.be/zwk3YFknyNA?si=uzKMSAM7wgReUWiV

Both have good perspectives on what works and why rather than focusing on rules, though the “rules” are sometimes helpful as a first check.

btbg

Actualky that diagram is clear without further explaination. The cirlce is placed such that the center of the circle is exactly on a line that runs 90 degrees from the open end of a 45 degree angle. The top line of the 45 degree angle must also bisect the center point of the circle. Doesnt matter the size of the circle as for both the top line of the angle and the center of the circle to bisect the same point everything will line up. The second arc then just goes tangent to the circle.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Thanks for the further explanation.

Bill_de Loc: US

Now you are talking like a photographer

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Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Oops, sorry. Forgot where I was

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

No it doesn't - I was questioning the meaning of "work the scene" and whether the OP was referring to PP or AI to (in his words) "make" rather than "take" a picture. I had not previously come across the expression. As a landscape photographer I often adjust my position for a different angle of view. I do this to reduce the need for cropping.