Thanks! I couldn't do it this way without the articulated screen on my d5100. There are some things I don't like about this camera but, I can't give up the articulated screen.
Nice two picture set. Picture 2 has just a little too much blurred foreground. Lowered by about half would really do wonders for your composition.
The articulated LCD screen does make life that much easier when the camera is below a comfortable viewing height. I used it all the time when I had a Nikon P500. I did find that many times there was a lot of glare to contend with, and started to use a white towel draped over my head and camera. Of course I got weird looks from strangers all the time. Now I use Nikon's DR-6 right angle finder to achieve much the same viewing angles with my old but trusty D70S.