How do you deal with composition vs focus points??

[Walkabout]

well said, Luis...
Adaptive, in answer to your questions, yes it was exactly as you see it, no manipulations. I used a 35 to 70mm lens on my Nikon 6006, probably still using print film, kodak asa 200 Gold. And it's a young Redtail Hawk. I was only about 8 or 10 feet away, he was wary to fly away for fear of losing his fresh kill in his talons. I resisted the urge to use a bigger zoom and just focus on his face, as the background made this shot memorable to me...I think a close up of a hawks face, however cool, would have been a less than extraordinary image, or just too much like so many others out there. I was very new to the craft at the time, was my first slr.

[Fibonacci]

Look, we are talking about composition here. That means balancing the visual weight of different elements and and using lines to direct the eye. In a lot of cases even a slightly out of focus element can carry weight to balance an image. What is critical, then, is having enough of your lines in sharp focus to serve your needs while using lack of focus to negate the things that would otherwise distract from your composition. We accomplish this by moving our point of view and adjusting DOF. Which we do first is a moot point; we are responsible for the results, not the method.
Josuf Karsh used to say that the difference between a good photographer and a great one is two steps forward and a half a step to the left. Since he didn't have a digital camera we can only guess that he didn't pre-focus, but that was then.