A few images from a beginner - comments very welcome

Comments very welcome!

LOTS of people here better qualified to give feedback, but here goes anyway!

Both shots are of potentially interesting subjects, BUT there is no point of interest or specific subject to draw the eye.
You either need to use depth of field or some other way to isolate or emphasise what it is that you want to be the thing that draws the viewer's attention. Keep shooting and keep posting!

see this quote: 'A picture without a dominant center of interest or one with more than one dominant center of interest is puzzling to a viewer. Subsequently, the viewer becomes confused and wonders what the picture is all about. When the picture has one, and only one, dominant "point of interest," the viewer quickly understands the picture.'
http://photoinf.com …c_composition_B​alance.htm

Here's another way of saying the same thing... http://www.ephotozine.​com …n-point-of-interest-17128

Pjay wrote in post #17359990
see this quote: 'A picture without a dominant center of interest or one with more than one dominant center of interest is puzzling to a viewer. Subsequently, the viewer becomes confused and wonders what the picture is all about. When the picture has one, and only one, dominant "point of interest," the viewer quickly understands the picture.'

This may be a classic way of thinking about composition, but I can't say I agree with it. Some pictures are "about" a relationship between two entities; others are even more complex. A composition involves a whole scene. However, it's true that the OP's two examples don't have centers of interest. I take them as studies of sensory qualities--color, texture--that rely on repetition of shapes to make a pattern.

Great pattern shots. I like both. Interesting derivations in the chain picture.

Is there no center of interest? Did you break a rule? But there are no rules in the visual arts. And that's a rule.

So there are rules. But these rules are not rigid laws. They are things that artists have learned over time, things that have generally been found to work. They are ways of thinking that can be followed if you are conservative, or skilfully defied if you want to be avant-guarde.

For instance, in portrait photography, there is the rule that the subject should have space to look into - there should be more space in front than behind. Skillful portrait photographers break this rule all the time. Horizons should normally be level. That rule is also broken lots of times by great photographers (but in such a way that it looks professional).

The more people follow a particular rule, the more effective it is when you break it. If everybody places the horizon at the third, then putting it in the middle has power. Artists know these things, of course, so there is always a give and take between conventional and unconventional ways of doing things.

If you are learning, it is useful to follow examples in great photographs that you see. ("Following good examples" sounds better to me than "following rules.") But whenever you want, follow your own spirit and do something original.

The test is whether you like it, and whether others like it, because most of us don't just shoot for ourselves. We want others to appreciate our work.

So take lots of pictures, look at lots of examples, and have lots of fun learning.

Anyway, there is definitely a center of interest in the first picture, the diagonal line. Admittedly the pic is minimalist, but it is appealing. But in that picture, I would have straightened the horizon - and maybe made the almost square shape more rectangular. Just IMO.

'But there are no rules in the visual arts. And that's a rule' and that's a rule to live by!
OP I loved your images regardless of center or not; but I think the first pic does center the viewer
with the long black adjoining plank line---as if that matters
Now the chain pic needs to be 4x5 foot metal print and hung on a stainless steel wall in a giant mega-corp cooperate office entry foyer.

Happy New Year everyone,

Thank you all for your very constructive comments. I will study them carefully and post some additional efforts soon.

Regards, Carl