Caution! Sometimes the subject before you can work in either the horizontal frame or the vertical frame, so do not fret if you cannot decide which way to compose your shot. In fact, embrace this as a moment of discovery and shoot the subject both ways, then move on. I had a student a few years back who became paralyzed with indecision over which format he liked best. He must have stood there for no less than 15 minutes, inviting each of us to look through his camera and offering advice (while the most magical light slowly disappeared). Despite my telling him to shoot it both ways and then decide later on his laptop, he just couldn’t do it!

Let there be no doubt that I, too, know the feeling of compositional uncertainty. The answer, as I am sure you’ll agree, is to just shoot it both ways and move on! That is exactly what I did when shooting these lavender fields atop France’s Valensole Plain. Both compositions are obvious examples of “selective focus,” with the visual weight placed entirely on the yellow wildflowers in the foreground. Even today, a year later, I am still not sure which one is “best”!

Both images: Nikon D3X with Nikkor 70–300mm lens at 200mm, f/7.1 for 1/320 sec., ISO 100