Suggestions for the new guy...?

[McMadCow]

This was a candid shot I took of one of my friends when we were out exploring an abandoned dynamite plant. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was coming into the building at a very low angle. The walls were almost completely covered in grafitti, which explains a lot of the interesting colors. The photo hasn't been retouched. Any comments/suggestions?
Thanks!

[Chunk]

This was a candid shot I took of one of my friends when we were out exploring an abandoned dynamite plant. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was coming into the building at a very low angle. The walls were almost completely covered in grafitti, which explains a lot of the interesting colors. The photo hasn't been retouched. Any comments/suggestions?
Thanks!

This is a nice shot. The colors on the wall are great. I think you might crop it a bit like this or even more to move your friend off center a bit more. You caught the moody light real well.

Suggest to your friend that she try keeping her other eye open while shooting. Once you get used to it it can help by knowing what is around your subject that you might want to include in the frame. It can also help with timing shots that have people moving in and out of the frame.

[McMadCow]

Interesting you said something about the composition. A buddy of mine mentioned the same thing and we got in a heated debate over it. Personal preference, I guess. I made the choice to keep her low-center because I wanted to show her surrounded by the room, not just pointing her camera away from it. Whatever works for each of us is different, though. Thanks for the input!
-Also, I do like the way it looks cropped, and I would have been happy with either result.

[opus]

Interesting you said something about the composition. A buddy of mine mentioned the same thing and we got in a heated debate over it. Personal preference, I guess. I made the choice to keep her low-center because I wanted to show her surrounded by the room, not just pointing her camera away from it. Whatever works for each of us is different, though. Thanks for the input!
-Also, I do like the way it looks cropped, and I would have been happy with either result.

You could possibly have accomplished both objectives, to show her surrounded by the room and still not have her dead-center in the shot (which makes it very static), by moving yourself lower and either to the left or right. You would put her in the lower left corner, your perspective would be looking up at her more, and so you'd see the walls towering above her giving her the same "surrounded" look, yet it would be more dramatic for the viewer, rather than simply recording a moment when your friend took a picture in an interesting room.

[Clicker]

My votes in for the cropped version, makes her the subject ( with an interesting background) , puts her in the intersection point ( referring to the rule of thirds, don't think i did a good job conveying what i mean.....

[gahspidy]

I too feel the cropped version is better. This was a good catch, McMadCow ( like the name, too) the colors on the wall, your friend composing a shot surrounded by the colors and moody lighting. But the cropped version is more pleasing to look at. btw, Welcome to the forum.

[McMadCow]

I feel like I'm getting ganged up on in here!
Seriously, though, thanks to everyone for the comments, they're much appreciated.
I used to be a cinema student, and I think I like the composition so much because I'm thinking of it in those terms. It was completely accidental, but the original end result reminds me of something from an old Lynch movie, or maybe something from Jeunet and Caro'.
Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions, and hopefully the next shot I upload will be from a slightly nicer scanner.

[Chunk]

I used to be a cinema student, and I think I like the composition so much because I'm thinking of it in those terms. It was completely accidental, but the original end result reminds me of something from an old Lynch movie, or maybe something from Jeunet and Caro'.

Interesting comment. When watching movies I often feel a jar when going from scenic shots which I usually see as well composed to more narrative scenes which seem less well framed to my eye. I understand that they have different purposes and the cinematic framing probably enhances the story.