I have learned are three parts to a great photograph. They are the technical craft, the composition, and the visual drama (or artist rendering) of the image. Most of my best selling images have all three aspects in spades. However, I do have several best selling images that are technically marginal but are well composed and visually striking.
Thus, I have learned to sacrifice technical execution to get something that is well composed and exhibits strong visual drama if time is critical. I will rough in camera movements and compensate with larger DOF (f64), and even guess at the exposure and then increase the exposure by one stop to make sure I get all detail when the scene is momentary in nature. My success rate with this type of shooting is one in ten, and when I get it right, I have leaned it can be a grand slam or like a jolt one gets from a double shot of tequila.
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