Andrew, to my eye the sky is well done and casts a very nice mood for this seafront image. From my experience however there is too much dark space. In the VF I played around with what pieces to brighten to add a "mid-ground" to this image. I chose only the three tankers on the left of the channel. I felt that the white forecastle at the extreme left and the small boat in the channel toward the right were distracting when lightened. To your Q about the yellow box, for my taste I would not crop it out bu leave it in as is or perhaps slightly darker.   Posted: 05/10/2021 11:00:10

My first thought was that the yellow box needed to go. The dark terrain in the foreground also felt "too heavy" to me. Some is good to ground us and balance that opera of light in the sky, but too much weighs the viewer down.
The strength of the image are its leading lines, the line of the large, left side canal leading us toward the light, it's lines echoed by the chain fending in the foreground givine a sense of inevitability "this is the way to go," with some sense of the canal to the right of "roads not taken."
I tried a crop to see if I could bring out that aspect of the image more, but maybe I've centered it too much. What do you think?
  Posted: 05/15/2021 04:02:57

PS I think when you emphasize the leading line, the dodging and burning work another commenter did is no longer necessary.   Posted: 05/15/2021 04:04:05

No, I think the image you picked is the right one.   Posted: 05/19/2021 16:14:12

I've adjusted the crop slightly   Posted: 05/19/2021 16:16:34

Hello Andrew. The color is nicely balanced. The leading lines of the water and fence move the viewer's eye through the image to the main subject. Overall the exposure is good. I would leave the yellow box. If you have more foreground in the original, I would go with that so there isn't any tension created by the yellow box on the edge. Perhaps the image could use some sharpening in either PS or LR. Interesting industrial scene! I would definitely go back and night and do some night photography/long exposure using a tripod. You might also try walking to the end of the walkway in order to get a closer shot of the ships and see if you like leaving out the yellow box and fence.   Posted: 05/20/2021 09:11:29

Andrew, I could flip a coin of whether to keep or crop out the box. I guess I would keep it because I like to have a number of things to look at in an image.

I might like a little more brightness to the overall image but I realize you were showing that it was just at sunset.

I think the next frame on the roll is the better of the two.   Posted: 05/20/2021 10:32:49

Hi Andrew,

I agree that the second image is much better. My eye is led to the ships by the chains and the path. In the original, I think I would leave the yellow box, but desaturate it a bit so that it wasn't quite so bright. I would also lighten and brighten the ships to try to make them the focal point of the image.   Posted: 05/23/2021 05:33:23

All the lines of the sky, the fences, sidewalk all lead my eye to the boats.
I tend to like photographs darker, but I would lighten this just a little. I also say, keep the yellow box. It helps ground the image! That's a wonderful place to be able to get to for photography!   Posted: 05/24/2021 11:36:35

I would like to see more of the ships, sunset and water reflection. I usually like pictures a little busy, but I think my eye is finding too many leading lines, leading me away from the ships.   Posted: 05/25/2021 08:50:54

Thanks for all your comments which are very helpful. Sadly I am unable to go back as despite this being a public right of way it has been fenced off.   Posted: 05/27/2021 05:05:02