Some help with composing rocks/moss/snow

[Garasaki]

Hi

I was out this weekend at a local spot, thinking there might be some cool rocks, moss, and snow combos.

I had to go out when I had the time to do so. This meant the lighting wasn't idea (overcast winter day - even lighting but no pop or warmth). I'm not sure it'd have mattered.

I really struggled with trying to put together good images. I felt like I generally failed to have a vision for the shots. Mostly just "hey that rock looks pretty cool".

So I'm looking for some tips, perhaps specific to the following shots, perhaps not, for improving my image composition for natural shots.

These are not postprocessed - I think some postprocessing could "pop" the colors but I'm not really convinced any of these are worth the effort.











This one was one of those deals where autofocus picked the wrong thing...but I sort of like it nontheless!

 

[BlackSheep]

Something to keep in mind in settings like that is that the trees/rocks/etc may look really cool in real life, but that's in 3D and doesn't always translate well into a 2D photo.

One thing you could do for inspiration would be to just search online for photos by others that you like, then try to mimic what they did in terms of composition, lighting, DOF, etc. After that, you'll develop your own skills & style for photos that you are happier with.

 

[WesternGuy]

Bland subjects are pretty hard to do anything with under bland skies. I would agree with BlackSheep about doing an online search to check out what others might be doing, but I really can't suggest any specific place to start. However, if it was me, I would start with a simple non-specific Google search - "photography rocks moss trees" and see what I got. Moss is an interesting subject if you are doing macro photography. Good luck.

WesternGuy

 

[Mully]

I think this image has the most merit if you get rid of the trees

 

[Garasaki]

I agree that one has the most potential, and agree on removing the trees.

I struggle with how to .... present that one in a way that garners interest.

I guess what I struggle with when trying to compose it is, what is the focus of the picture?

My eye looks at it, wanders around, then says to my brain "ok so...what am I supposed to look at again?"

 

[Garasaki]

So I took your advice and did some googling.

This is an example of something my eye knows what to do with



The composition tells my eye to start lower left and fade up and to the right.

Sorry just sort of thinking out loud with this.