Composition question asked and answered (I think)

In a previous post -- "Bird-Watching in the West" -- Linda H. asked the following question regarding a collage I'd made (left):
 
Ok, I get that, once you point it out, my eyes will forever move in that direction when I see this piece of yours.
 
My question is, are you thinking to yourself ahead of time, "Ah, I need something in this corner to create movement! What will create that?"? Or do you see AFTER you'd dotted in those dots, realizing, "Oh! I'm a genius! I just created movement for my viewer's eyes!"?
 
Silly question, I know. Just call me dense about this stuff.

Linda, you're not dense about this stuff — it's so tricky, so elusive, and so subjective. Approaching making a collage is, to me, very different from approaching a subject to photograph.

In a collage yes, I'm thinking, "it looks empty here" and I look for something to place on the paper. Or, "I need movement across the piece. How can I create it?" It's the same way when I create a photomontage. I'm looking for balance, for contrast, for flow. Composition is more of a left-brained, analytical element for me when creating collages and/or photomontages.

Naturally, when I discover how well I created the movement then yes, I tell myself what a flipping genius I am! (Not really. But I'm delighted when I discover it!)

When composing a photograph, it's different. It's easier for me. In photography, I always ask myself, "What caught my eye? What do I like about what I'm seeing?" And then I attempt to fill my frame with just that. I look at something, figure out what I like, then begin creating the composition. The subject determines the composition.

For instance, a couple hours ago I was photographing a little piece of bamboo (you can see it above, second photo down). When I clipped off the piece during my walk, I thought I was going to photograph the way the new growth looked butted right up against the leaf. When I got it home, what caught my eye (and my heart) was a little swirl of leafage below the larger leaf. I knew I wanted the smaller leaf to be in focus. I knew I wanted a high-key look. And I knew I had to incorporate the stem so the leaf could swirl from something.

It was obvious to me that I should put the stem over toward the right so that the larger leaf could reach over to the left and the little swirly guy would intersect the larger one. I made sure the little leaf was in focus. I made sure I was overexposing by two stops to get the high-key look I wanted. And I made sure that the stem was standing perfectly vertical (I used masking tape to affix the stem to a can of spray paint). For me, this is relatively instinctive now and isn't nearly the same challenge as making a physical collage or even a photomontage. (Well, there are lots of challenges, but composition isn't the main one. Like, how do I keep from kicking my tripod?)

So to answer your question, yes, I'm consciously analyzing my composition when making collages because the process isn't second-nature to me yet. If an area looks too empty, I have to consciously figure out what I can put in there that adds to the look and that seems right (too often, it just looks stupid to me).

To give you an example of that, here's a physical collage I made yesterday. It's 5" x 5". And I don't especially like it. (So I shouldn't even be showing it to you, but . . .) All the elements in it are rather linear — the Japanese calligraphy, the blue rectangle of paper, the tree, so I thought I'd add a curved piece of paper (a coffee filter). But the lower right quadrant looked too empty, so I put a shiny silver circle there to add more curves. Not enough. So I cut a blue circle and put it slightly under the silver one. Why? To fill the space and to continue the concept of a half-moon that the coffee filter created. Hmmm...  Maybe I should cut out some small silver and blue dots and sprinkle them around three sides of the "moons!" That might just do it! When in doubt, add dots . . . Kind of like in photography: When in doubt, f/8!

Too much information? Too much rambling? Too confusing? Too many examples? Did I answer your question? I don't even remember your question at this point!

©Carol Leigh