Years of shooting wide open killed my composition skills, how do you actually train your eye ?
I recently attended my first ever photography class. One comment from the instructor genuinely shook me : a photographer is responsible for everything in the frame, like a painter who paints every inch of the canvas. Beginners photograph a subject. Experienced photographers compose an entire image.
That hit harder than I expected. I realized I'd been blaming bad shots on poor conditions or bad timing when in reality I just wasn't putting enough effort into my framing.
After some reflection I identified my main crutch : years of shooting wide open. f/1.4, f/2, always. Blur covers a lot of sins. I never had to deal with what was actually in my frame. I'm switching to a 35mm prime and forcing myself to shoot at f/8-f/11 so I have to own every element in the image.
I shoot family, reportage and street, available light only. I can't always choose when I go out so I have to work with whatever conditions I find.
My question : when practicing composition, is it better to go out with a loose thematic intention ("today I look for geometry") or just go out freely and try to apply compositional principles to whatever presents itself ?
I'm not looking for theory or tutorials. I want actual training exercises or routines that worked for you at an intermediate level.