I set up with my trusty 24-105mm lens on the life boat station in Selesy Bill so that I was high enough up not to get the horizon in the frame. There was good light and I set the shutter speed fairly high so as to freeze any movement.
I took pictures of the little boat composing in the view finder to put it in different positions in the frame.
The images on the left are shown in order of preference, from top left to bottom right. I feel the first image works best. The boat sits comfortably for me just off centre. Importantly, it has 'looking space' ahead of it , i.e. more space in front than behind - space for the boat to move into.The space on the left hand side of the boat shows that the craft is isolated in the expanse of the sea. In many ways the same can be said for the second image although the angle of the boat to the viewer is a little more awkward.
The next three images can almost be inter-changed. Each time I look at them I could put them in a different position! For me it's not so much the relationship with the background but the relationship with the edge that is causing the problem.
The last image is the 'punctured' image as mentioned in the book. I agree that the background loses it's importance with the boat in the middle of the frame. As the eye is drawn to the middle we seem to pass over the background. This doesn't happen in the other pictures.
