Originally posted by Cannikin Letting the lens dictate the scene, whether by "lazy zooming" or "zooming with your feet" to get a certain subject size, seems totally backwards to me. To me the "proper" way to shoot is to observe the scene, visualize how you want the photo to look, move to the position that gives you that perspective, pick the focal length, in that order, unless practical limitations get in the way (e.g. can't reach the spot, don't have other lenses with you, etc).
A case in point was the tree shot I posted:
I knew there was an image there and I knew I wanted the base of the tree to "grow" out of the lower right corner of the frame.
I set the FL of the lens at it's sweet spot - about 90mm and the aperture at f/11 for some DOF.
Anyway I walked towards the tree, keeping the base of the tree down in the lower right corner of the frame (viewfinder) until I had the crop I wanted. But the perspective was wrong - too many of the front branches were obscuring important elements in the back of the scene so I moved in and out a bit until I had the perspective I wanted. Then I achieved the crop I wanted by zooming, all the time keeping the lower right corner of the frame where I wanted it until crop area was about right, and bang - released the shutter. After that a slight crop in PP did the trick.
I know this sounds a bit long-winded but it becomes second nature and only takes a minute or two.
Also having a zoom, with it's ability to give you a crop without a change in perspective, was ideal in this case.
My own opinion is that most people don't really know how to take advantage of a zooms flexibility.