I think there are several things players just learning the game can take away from this thread.
The first is something I remember Bud Harris (The US champion) saying: sometimes a quarter inch on ball placement is the difference between a hanger and not having a shot. In the case of this shot, moving the cue ball less than a ball diameter makes the follow shot a likely kiss or not and the thin hit easy or impossible without some masse. I think it is really hard to say from the original photos exactly the lines the balls had, although I did my best to reproduce the position in both the diagram and on the table.
This means that you need to start to recognize when the position might be a little iffy for a shot. In the case of a kiss, you might try varying the shot with spin or speed to see if you can avoid it. In the case of the angle looking like it's impossible to attain, you need to work to get to the limit to either verify or correct your intuition about the shot.
The best time to work on that sort of thing is in practice so you can duplicate the shot within a few millimeters and change it a few millimeters or centimeters if it proves intractable for your current skill level. Get a carom pencil (fabric marker).
Also, you have to be able to see lots of (potential) options in most positions. For the position of this thread, with the balls out in the open table, you should expect to see a bunch. If the balls are on cushions and distant, you may only find one that has any chance. I know one group of players that likes to find five solutions before they decide on a shot. They must have excellent imaginations and/or tremendous patience.
Finally, good diagrams are essential to understanding this game. Bob Byrne set a high bar compared to previous carom authors with his "Standard" book, but some more recent authors have moved on and found ways to add more info to their diagrams, such as exact speed/spin/elevation details and the order that two balls will pass over a potential kiss spot.
I still like the thin hit with lots of spin.