I find I really enjoy this square format. There's something about a square that lends itself to the more graphic nature of composition that I enjoy.
Whenever I am first deciding on a composition, I squint at my subject through my viewfinder to get an idea of what the value's are over-all. The approach to value that I've enjoyed the most (and what I teach in my workshops) is that an interesting/strong composition has a dominant value (takes up the most space over-all), a smidge value (takes up the least space) and another inbetween those two (still haven't come up with a great name for that one - though I like "inbetween"). So, if I were to divide my values into three main categories: light, medium and dark, using this painting as an example: light is my dominant value, dark is my smidge and medium is my inbetween value.
Oh, and these pine cones are from a forest just north of Santa Fe. I brought them back in a sippy cup so they wouldn't get squashed in my suitcase, and remembered them just today. What a great subject they made!
