Great idea for a new topic, BTW.

I'll kick it off with a new post about putting people in your pix in the backcountry.

I've always tried NOT to get people in travel pix over the years, and that often meant getting up early to set up in a beautiful spot, like Siena, and getting shots of cathedrals and towers BEFORE the throngs arrived. I'll do anything to get the mob outta the picture when shooting urban scenes, UNLESS the person(s) themselves were the subject of the shot.

Lot easier doing images sans people in the backcountry since the mob got left within a mile or two of the trailhead. But people can add a lot to a shot at times, such as giving the photo perspective. I'll illustrate that with an example that also nicely dovetails in with the "favorite photos" part of this new topic.

Took this 3 years ago in Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park in BC. We'd set up camp near the lake below the famous "Canadian Matterhorn" and I got Debbie to trudge ahead and hold the pose of her looking at the famous peak.



Mt. Assiniboine pic.

A variation of the "rule of thirds" comes into play. That rule is to divide the image into thirds horizontally and vertically and place the person at one of the points where the dividing lines intersect. That gets the person out of the center, and the landscape reigns supreme. With the person looking (away) in awe at the peak, the shot is no longer a family snapshot (although it still is to the photographer), but acquires more widespread appeal.