It's not that I am opinionated.

The Sarasota FL "Herald-Tribune" recently carried a photo' of some local high school athletes, females and males,  who were being honoured an some awards ceremony or another.
 
There they were in their best duds,  and smiling for the camera.  The pity was that the camera was too far way.  So we saw these eight or ten athletes being pictured from head to toe, when a head and shoulders shot would have been far more engaging.
 
What I mean is this:  The athletes themselves, their family members and friends their coaches were most likely not a bit interested in the various fashions on display.  What they wanted to be featured  was the smiling faces of these successful young adults.
 
It was an  example of unimaginative photography.
 
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Here is another example.  It is a set piece photo' taken by a staff photographer on the MV Discovery.
 
 
The picture is "all very well", but it is hardly memorable. No-one is interested in  our feet!
 
When I framed the photo' I cut off the bottom half, and added a border. This is how it looks in its frame on my wall.  I suggest that this is a bit more attractive.
 
 
 
If only the photographer had zoomed in!
 
I suggest that when you take "set piece" (rather than candid)  photo's  of your friends and family members you might focus on head and shoulder views, rather than on full body shots.
 
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Interesting photo's set a context.
 
  Here are two examples:
 

 
The main object is the boat  but the rest of the photo' sets the context.
 
Or this
 
 
 
It  is an early morning photo' of a mail boat. It "comes to life"  because of the misty mountains in the background. Maybe I should have zoomed in a bit more on the boat.
 
Some of my photo's included a bit of the ship.  This was to establish a perspective.
 
 
 
I did not have a great interest in the passengers on the  deck, but without them the photo' might have been a bit bland.
 
 
 
 
This is the island called "Flatholme" in the Bristol Channel. Would the picture have made sense if it had not included a bit of the ship?
 
 
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At Noah and Zehra's wedding in Lynchburg VA on June 21st I was pleased to see Johanna Douglas who was a young child when I was the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge,
 
Here we are
 
 

 
 
That's nice enough but it does not convey my fondness for Johanna. 
 
 
So I asked the photographer to take another shot.  Here it is
 
 

 
 
In this one I chose to look at Johanna.  I hope that it conveys my love and admiration for this wonderful young woman.
 
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I am opinionated, and I am by no means a good photographer.  But mostly I hope that you will consider other options for photo's, especially  that you will consider close up and/or  head and shoulders of your dear ones.
 
Once in a while we amateurs will get a good shot.  Thus I think is the case of my shot of the Queen Mary II in Bergen Harbour.
 
 

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