My Winnipeg

Castle Commute

The Colours of Our City

The Forks

Each one of these images has a design element that leads the viewer into the picture and straight to the subject.
In the top picture, we have the rubber mats that act as our pathway to the skating rink. Once there we might look up to the tower and see the Canadian flag waving but then our eye travels back down the trees and back to the pathway and to the rink once more.
In the cityscape scene, we hop onto the train and take a ride straight downtown to the corporate highrises. Our eyes hover over the cluster of buildings and then down to catch the train back again.
The last picture has us traversing the stairs to the front entryway of Johnston Terminal. The trees on the far right keep our eyes from traveling off the picture.
Keeping the viewers engaged by giving them a subject to visit without distracting pieces that pull the eyes off the picture is important.

Winter Settles In at The Forks

Train Town

Include the telling things in your compositions. Sometimes we shy away from street and business signs and climb a little higher to avoid entire structures to get that great shot. On occasion, perhaps more often than this, it is better to include these things as they inform the viewer about the whole. If you intentionally include these things, the overall composition will also be improved.

I shot this image with my 60 mm macro lens - it is what I had with me. My shutter speed was 1/4000 and my aperture was f/2.8. ISO was fixed at 100.