There is a look in some great photography, that I do not seem always to be able to get.
Pondering other things photographic, I realise that many of my favourite images have a perfect distance and perspective. Take this away and they lose their power. This distance is not too tight, nor too wide. It is by definition, just right.
My own struggle with this (consciously-unconsciously?), has tended to side with the “tighter is better” school of thought, making me a details person. Never a fan of the sweeping landscape, especially in my own work where I prefer the portraitists perspective, I have often missed something obvious.
The middle distance.
The main focal point is supported by the whole. If tightened up, it becomes a single statement image (“Intimate Japan”?), but loosened off, it allows for the main subjects to be contrasted with others.
The one exception to this for me is in my street images. Often standing out to me as different, I assumed because of location and subject matter, I have come to realise it is as much because they are taken differently.
My 17mm lens (35m in FF terms) and the constant movement that defines our trips, forces on me a compositional style that I seem to ignore the rest of the time. Always a little self conscious when working at home, I may actually use tighter compositions to avoid the stress of shooting more and wider. From including people that may not appreciate my artistic endeavours.
With no particular point of connection, the image above only has any strength when seen as a whole, letting your eye wander through it appreciating the patterns formed.
Every image has a perfect distance, an ideal perspective and even an ideal size to be viewed at. These choices are often ignored in favour of “preferred style”, probably at our peril.