Cropping cannot entirely compensate for shooting-time decisions, but still...eliminating the large open area to the left side of the frame changes your shot #2 quite a bit. This is a simple crop, not edited in any way...
View attachment 147825
I do like that better, a lot better, in fact.
I tend to stick to the rule of thirds and not venture out. But I like that
Okay...I do not believe in The Rule of Thirds. And one reason is that simply placing her off to the short side of the frame at a 1/3 position, and having her looking outward, toward the "short side" of that frame, causes a HUGE degree of
visual tension. Second, the so-called Rule of Thirds under discussion here is a modern-era invention from Popular Mechanics magazine, and it ignores basic visual science stuff. In the fine arts, there are elements and principles of design, and one concept under that rubric is
line of gaze; in almost ALL of the famous, classic portraits of the history of the world, there is some type of a line of gaze of the subject (eyes-closed and faceless shots being exceptions, many times, but not always), the subject gazes in a definite direction. Allowing her MORE space to look into would have changed the shot hugely to your benefit, so the 1/3 of the frame placement was used exactly in reverse...and so, when cropping the shot down to rectify the visual tension and to reduce tension and bring about more
visual harmony between subject and camera frame orientation, I felt tha
t the left-side backdrop's color and bokeh balls were both staggeringly beautiful, so I compromised on the amount of space I allowed to remain to the frame's left-hand side.
One cannot simply plop
a person looking camera-right onto the
right-hand side 1/3 line and make a good shot with the left 2/3 all backdrop. Had she been placed on the left-hand side of the compositon and allwoed to "look into" the empty space, the shot would have been better.
I cropped off the empty space, but really hated to lose the upper left hand corner bokeh balls...so I cropped it as close as I felt I could,and still keep those bokeh balls...the cropped, squareish frame I made from your original shot is just
a better look at HER, the ostensible subject of the portrait. That you like it better is not surprising, since it's been cropped to reflect more traditional visual science and artistic ideas we've codified for centuries now. The "Rule of Thirds" is not really very useful; again, one cannot just place a subject at a "point" and ignore centuries' worth of compositional practices. Not trying to lecture, but trying to take the time to describe WHY the crop is so different from the 2/3 empty, 1/3 her,
visually tense way the original had been framed up.
Your motorcycle shots show a more-traditional, better compositional strategy. And yet still, you might want to think more about photographing a standing woman in a tall camera orientation, and not cutting her off in the torso or lower chest area in such a manner as was done in some of these...talls...not wides...and maybe squares!
