One thing I've noticed is that I pay a lot more attention to the sky lately. It's kind of irritating. Sometimes the weather just puts the most amazing cloud formations in the sky and the day becomes a desperate attempt to figure out a way to find a good use for it. Unfortunately it's hard to find a good foreground in the middle of a city without a few previously known locations. Had to just give up on a foreground and see what I could do with just the sky.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadcactus/3520909229/


This one's was a spur of the moment shot. I like how the composition came out, but I think I botched the focus. Should have gone with a wider depth of field, but light was dwindling and the tripod wasn't with me.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadcactus/3521721254/

Which brings me to the question promised in the title. How much of your composition is truly pre-planned? So far, a lot of the shots I really like had some rudimentary thought put into the general composition but much of it was just the luck of one out of a dozen turning out alright.

 

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I like those, especially the sky shot, it turned out very well.

I put a fair amount of thought in to my compo these days, not so much when I first started. I'll take the same shot a number of times from different angles and with different framing and pick out the one or two I like best later. Even with that I still end up doing a fair amount of cropping in LR later because I'm rarely happy with the original shots.

 

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The sky:


As a friend here at work put it when I was talking about the amazing light we were having, and the fact that I didn't have my camera with me:


"Just enjoy it, by the time you're ready with the camera, the moment's gone" (loosly translated)


As for composition:

I've become alot more aware in regards to where I put my subjects in the viewfinder, but that doesn't help much "in the spur of the moment" when you're just desperatly trying to get something before it is gone.

What I do in those situations, is just to crop it to my tastes.


On planned shots, I usually plan my compositions pretty carefully, and in some situations I already have a clear picture of what I want, and how to get it. (this for instance which I had to go back and shoot a second day)

In some cases I've even drawn sketches of the subjects before I went out.


I took alot of pictures of my sister, her fiancee and their kid, and I had quite a few pre-determined shots written down, and just had them pose accordingly.


Sooo, what I'm trying to say is this:

I think about the composition most of the time, but I don't always have the opportunity to get it "right".


That beeing said though, I've taken 3k+ pics so far this year, and alot more last year (when I started) and I was not very aware of how I composed my pics untill pretty recently (3-4 months ago)


The most important part is going out, taking pictures, and learning what you think looks good. That is also important to remember when you come here, showing of your photos. While we have strong opions on how a pic should look, that isn' absolute truth, it's just how WE like it.

(although, you'll quickly learn, as did I that once you start adhering to the compisition "rules" you'll get more exiting photos. I see pics now and I can spot a "tourist" pic in instants )

 

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The only shots I ever plan are my art shots.
Everything else is spur of the moment for me, I see it, and shoot it the way I like it, on the spot.

 

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