One thing I was taught along time ago or you could say something that I was told to think about was how much land do you need in the viewfinder when composing a shot? Sometimes the foreground and middle ground earth is important with telling the story. Then there are those times when they aren’t important. When photographing a beautiful Rocky Mountain sunset with a D4 and 14-24, and the sky has great clouds and great color, how much of that foreground earth is needed? The subject is the sky right? why not show just enough for a anchor and then leave out the rest.
When it comes to telling the story it’s important to remember what the subject is and how best to show that subject, not just the rules to capture the image.