Lessons Learned: Exploring the Angles

Driving through Guilford on our way to Greenville and Moosehead Lake, we suddenly came upon this covered bridge...I had no idea it was there! Talk about pleasant surprises.

From high on the river bank, it made a pretty good composition: Decent light angle, rocky riverbed with enough water for a reflection. But I felt there might be something more interesting if I got closer, so I climbed down the bank to water level and there I discovered the patch of bright foliage past the bridge on the river bank. If offered exactly the touch I felt the picture needed.

Here, with my 20mm wide angle lens, I used the rocks and reflection to frame the lower edge of the picture, placed the foliage near one of the "rule of thirds" points, and defined the top with the bridge roof and a thin sliver of bright blue sky.

While my ability to previsualize (imagine) how a picture will look through various lenses and from different angles, I've also found that there's just no substitute for taking action and actually walking/running/climbing around to set up shots to see how they'll look. I've been happily surprised more often than not using the technique.