Cactus

[icassell]

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll249/icassell/IMG_7136.jpg

The repeating pattern of the cacti is what attracted me when I took this image. I tried to position myself so that the image would draw the viewer in (at the risk of getting nabbed by the thorns, of course). It was suggested that the partial cacti in the foreground were distracting from the main idea, so I tried cloning them out. I have mixed feelings now -- thinking too much about this, I'm afraid. I think I still would keep them, but am really not sure if they help or hinder the composition. Help would be appreciated.

[Hertz van Rental]

Too many cacti, probably.
I presume by 'repeating pattern' you mean the spines.
The cactus in the foreground is fine but all the cacti in the background are in competition - as well as the dead space top left.
It looks like you shot it on a bit of a wide. A tele would have been better to allow you to exclude more, choose a better position without feeling a bit of a prick (sorry, couldn't resist) and throw anything in the background you can't get rid of out of focus.
And you might have been able to focus on just the three in a row up the centre of the picture.
If you crop the image off just above the foreground cactus, then crop a strip off the left side to remove the intruding cacti middle left side you get a much better image.
And the cacti bottom left and right corners then contribute to the composition.
The idea is definitely worth exploring more if the opportunity arises.

[icassell]

Hmmmm ....

Now that's TOTALLY different from the way my brain was working on this and it helps to see that someone views things differently. I'm going to have to go back when I get home from work and play with those ideas. In fact, by repeating pattern, I was thinking of the repeating cacti and not the repeating spines, but your way is another interesting way of looking at it. I thought of the background cacti as drawing one's eye across the composition, but I see what you mean about the competition.

[Hertz van Rental]

In which case try cropping the bottom quarter off the image to focus attention of the grouping of the cacti.
That works too but in a different way.
It's all just a matter of directing the viewer's gaze to where you want.

[icassell]

Now that IS interesting. I'm at work, so just tried doing that by scrolling up on my monitor. With the foreground cactus complete as it is here, my eye is drawn directly towards it and the background fights it. When I crop off half of the foreground cactus, my eye works its way backwards as I wanted to happen. Thanks!

[Fox Paw]

Hertz, thanks for doing this and please keep it up.