Hi John,
As I often mention to other photographers in this column, one of the most important skills a photographer can learn is how to “read” a photograph. This is not just about understanding what the story might photograph might be in a photograph, it is also learning how we actually scan a photograph.
More often than not most people make a photograph and then look at it on the back of the camera before making another image. What can be a really useful exercise is simply “cropping” the image on your camera’s monitor by placing your hand over the image. See if the image can be improved by removing empty space or distracting elements. If the “hand cropping” technique makes a difference then recompose the photograph and try again.
This image has got some beautiful content, namely the silhouette of the jacaranda tree… but sadly my eyes are spending more time staring at the brightest part of the picture, namely that empty sky, looking for something to happen.
So, depending on the quality of your original file I would simply be inclined to crop off the right half of the photograph.
As another option, you could also look at doing a reshoot, but this time I would compose the image as a vertical.
Cheers,
Anthony
Image Doctor's edited version
