In a method of evaluating compositional quality of a layout orientation of an image, image saliency data is received for an image to be presented in a viewing region. A layout orientation for presenting the image in the viewing region is received. A composition template embodying an image composition rule is received. The image saliency data and the composition template are utilized to determine a weighted occlusion cost for the layout orientation. The weighted occlusion cost is utilized to determine a composition score indicating quality of the layout orientation with respect to the image composition rule.