Composition techniques and ideas

As I gain a better understanding of how the book may work with layouts and the images that could be used within each page I must consider composition. Each image will require thought on how the composition might work and allow for issues such as the gutter of the book.
I have been looking through a variety of books and magazines for ideas on composition. Many comment that the key elements of any successful image lie within strong composition, tonal work and lighting. Details and textures are no use without the three fundamental being correct. One book I read by Rob Alexander shows a variety of techniques for adding a sense of mood or emotion to a composition. I tried a few short experiments as described and found that these made sense. These types of techniques will need to be considered for each image. As the images develop I will write down what it is I am trying to say. Asking myself what is the story? how should the reader feel? what mood is set and how are the emotions conveyed? This book has short examples of techniques or ideas about all manner of subjects and may become a useful reference guide. The book cover and an example of the simple techniques are shown below.

I also found some useful articles in Imagine FX magazine. There were a few different articles written about composition covering things like rule of third, golden ratio and negative spaces. They also discuss many other aspects of composing an image. There are others books I have that also cover this and many other topics. My intentions are to initially create images in a manner that feels natural to me and then use some of these principles to enhance the image. This method of working should hopefully improve the images I create. I do not want to start with the rules first as these seem to tense me up, this is why I feel I should work more naturally in the first instance, then developed by ideas further using some of these rules or principles. Extracts from the magazine are shown below.