Let's talk about this from a photojounalism standpoint. Getting an overall shot that captures the essence of what's going on is critical. In order to get the angle I wanted, I decided to double park and scramble up onto the roof of my vehicle, standing up and getting images with a wide zoom lens. This shot captured the overall story. Getting ten feet off the ground made the difference. From street level, you couldn't tell what was going on. So don't be afraid to look for an angle that works, even if it takes thinking outside the box to make it happen.
Try to add a foreground that helps tell the story. Here, a volunteer works hard planting a flower garden. This shot captures the essence of the task. From a technical side, the secret to making this shot work was balanced fill flash. With direct sunlight as the only light source, the subject's face would have been dark beyond recognition. Using a camera mounted TTL flash I was able to capture the details of her face. I needed to adjust the exposure compensation, decreasing the exposure by -0.7 stops, and powering down the flash by 1.7 stops, to keep the foreground from being overlit.
