AustralianPhotography

Hi Jean,

One of the secrets to being a good photographer is learning to see beyond the obvious. If the photograph that you are making is likely to be the same photo that I or anyone else with a camera and wide angle lens could see and make on almost any other day of the year then chances are the photograph is not that special.

So, the question is, how do we make this a special photo?

To begin with, I do not think the boats are special and they do not deserve to be taking up the majority of the image like they are. What I really want to see more of are the buildings on the other side of the harbour. And I want the colors to look more vibrant.

If I was making this photo I would be more inclined to step back with a longer lens and try to say more about the architecture of the buildings, not the boats. In stepping back there is also a reasonable chance that you could foreshorten the foreground and then turn the image into a panorama. Don’t be scared to walk down a laneway either, or to see if there is a view across the harbour from a café or balcony.

Remember, always keep an eye out for images that are less obvious… they will be more special.

Now, one last thing. Something is missing from this picture and it is the sky. The upper left of the picture has been totally wiped out and as such it is a really big distraction. If you shot this photograph in RAW mode then go back to the file and see if you can get some more detail out of the  sky. Failing that, have a look through some similar images to see if there is a sky that you can cut and paste into this photograph.

Below is a modified version of your photo with a new sky dropped in (I copied the sky from the right of the image… pasted it in as a new layer and then flipped it over horizontally to reflect the right of the picture.) Then I cropped the image and cloned out the boats in the foreground and to finish everything off I selected the buildings and added some brightness and contrast to them.

I hope you get to visit this location again soon to make some more photos.

Cheers, Anthony

Image Doctor's edited version