2 beautiful roses but the composition? Help!

[JBW]

[Ziggy]

Nice looking rose. I think a single would work better.

[JBW]

Nice looking rose. I think a single would work better.

or perhaps a triple.

[JohnRostron]

One of the 'rules of composition' would say a triple. I find this double quite enchanting!

John

[Geoff F]

Just the two but closer together would be another option.

Showing a fraction more of the background might be an alternative way of making them appear to be closer.

[Dave Humphries]

I also subscribe to the theory that an odd number of items usually works better, but there can be exceptions.

In this case Brian, I think the 'opposite' diagonal, out of focus, background branch isn't helping, since it separates them compositionally.

Is it possible to shoot them from 45 degrees further round to camera right?
... without having something worse in the background?

[Shadowman]

Less profile, more face.

[jcuknz]

Odds is good but evens is bad

[Manfred M]

The issue with this image is that you have two subjects, so the viewer's eyes can't figure out which flower to look at. This generally results in a weak composition.

For a stronger composition, you would either need to ensure that there is only a single dominant rose in this image or compose in such a way that they appear as a pair (single subject). As for the rules of composition, I remember a well known local photographer once comment and say something like "the rules of compositions should be used, except in instances where they don't work".

[jcuknz]

"the rules of compositions should be used, except in instances where they don't work".

"the rules of compositions should be used, except in THE RARE instances where they don't work"

The RoC are often in conflict with each other so the skill is in working out which is the appropriate one to follow.

[JBW]

I love this multiple opinions and i agree with all of you. I had hoped to get an interesting shot of 2 roses both in focus. I ended up with a 'stereoscopic' shot just misses.

Next time a change of angle, one dominant, and if possible three roses.

I once upon a time was a pastor and honestly tried to apply Wisdom Literature teachings to my life. The hard part was to figure out just which proverb or teaching applied to any given situation.

Who would have thought that years spent trying to figure out proverbs would help me in photography.