Not bad. A little additional context would be nice - keep the fisherman in the bottom left corner and zoom out to show the vista behind him. When someone's looking out of the frame, it's generally best if their eyes have something to look at. The label on his tube is rather distracting, but it'd probably be tricky to clone out. B&W conversion is nice - the tones flow rather well.
I dunno, Karm. Pretty nice. As one who fishes with flies, the image works for me, and seems fully engaging as is. He's in the midst of a great hatch, and watching his line/fly. Getting the latter in the image would be impossible, and too much of a zoom out to work, anyway. It's implied. Maybe frame him a tad lower/left, but altogether really neat, I think. Which poses the question: do subject and context affect composition, or is the best composition always determined by it's own rules regardless the story?
Option A. Was that a rhetorical question?
If you knew a photo followed any given composition "rule," could you be sure it was good without seeing it? I think not. We frequently shoot subjects and contexts that lend themselves to things like the rule of thirds, give a moving subject space to move into, don't crop the top of the head, etc. But following those rules every day is a recipe for boring work.
Yes, sort of rhetorical, Lex, but I'm an unschooled beginner and do wonder about how/why good composition is made/works. So was sharing some musing to stir up comments like yours, which I appreciate (and with which I agree). But given your comment, then, is the best composition not only understood relative to the context and subject, but the frame of the viewer? I offer this next "rhetorical" question only because I, as a flyfisher, seem to have appreciated the composition problem here differently than you - perhaps not a flyfisher.
Hi Lex, all good comments. I did not include more background because I did not like the way it looked. I did include some background reflections. Looking at the image I wanted the focus to be on the fisherman surrounded by an insect hatch. The fisherman now sits squarely on the upper set of crosshatched lines using the rule of thirds. I also wanted to include his rod and line. I could have dropped the fisherman down to the lower set of crosshatched lines and included more background but I thought this weakened the image.
karm
Hi Mark. I'm with you on this image. The subject is the fisherman tube fishing and the context is the insect hatch he is surrounded by. If I had great background to include I would have attempted Lex's recommendation. However, it would have been a different picture: fisherman in paradise. My image is designed to elicit a different emotion. Also, I wanted to include the fisherman's rod and line that constrained its composition. I could have dropped the fisherman down and included more space above him but I thought this weakened the image.
karm
Well, all in all, a nice shot, nice image, and nice to look at. Hope you got a line in too.
Thanks Mark. I did. The day I took this photo I fished the same body water in the early evening and caught around seven largemouth bass. I also missed one bass that was around five pounds.
karm
Great shot. I especially like catching the hatch. I haven't fly-fished in a long time due to locale but this picture brings back some great memories.
Hey Steve, take your fly rod and go catch a bunch of bluegills on a small popper. There everywhere, even in NJ.
Appreciate your comment.
karm