Most of the time, finding the angle is synonymous with finding the story that you want to tell. Even small changes to composition can have a significant effect on the storyline.

Where the storyline is concerned, one of the main factors is how the viewers' attention is directed and what it's directed towards. That is one of the main considerations for those who are good at producing good results, and it's why composition is key to producing good results.

There are people who poo-poo the whole idea of storytelling but the problem is they just don't appreciate or understand how that concept applies to most of what we shoot, one way or another. Even things like documentary and product photography can fall into that category.

There are many ways to make a good photo.
Creating them can be a process of actually composing for the shoot, i.e. fashion shoots/wedding pre-nups & product shoot (sample photo here and how its done here),
to finding little gems in the noise & editing (example here and here )
but mostly, even with the above examples, the secret is finding the angles and working the scene.

Here is a typical snap shot:


here is the same area from the opposite direction:

In both examples, we get humdrums meh images.

But if we work the scene and shoot a different angle, we can get this aesthethically better photo.


Which may even be better if we were using a lens with a narrower FOV, as mocked-up here:

It is the same spot, just looking at it from a different angle and perhaps with a different aperture.

What makes this image work?
Lots of reasons, but mainly, we eliminated the uncecessary parts. The uglies, the noise the distractions and kept only the parts that work together.

Here is another angle of the same area:

Again a humdrum image and more so, there is my shadow!

So again we try to find a better angle. In this case I had to sit down while keeping the phone up and zoom a bit so that the side verticals do not appear and make an imaginary wider space.


Next time you shoot, find the angles. There might be a better composition hiding in that noise. Pehaps a diamond amongst the coals.

Happy shooting!

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