Originally posted by subsea the "good" photographers at a location are doing
No worries, Mark, I've actually removed the phrase 'good' from my post above because it suggested that there weren't any crap photographers on the bridge during blue hour, and that good photographers weren't back on the day trip cruise ships or eating in restaurants. Sorry about that!
Originally posted by subsea In my opinion, these edits have thrown away two items that I consider extremely important for the vision of this scene that I have in my mind's eye. First, you've tossed out the reflections in the lower right side of the original image, which I happen to like. More importantly, you've tossed out the roof line on both sides of the image. In my opinion, both of these are important to help establish a sense of scale and depth in the image.
Yeah, I'm happy to be shown otherwise, but I don't think you can do a crop without going panorama that includes all that without the black sky. Presumably the other pictures you said you took at other times do get the sweep, the bending arc of the river, the convergence of the two rooflines, and interest doesn't just evaporate when looking at the top third of the frame.
The edit I suggested isolates what you said in your post was the highlight of the scene. As Brooke and lots of photo editors point out, you just have to leave out anything that doesn't strengthen the concept of the photo, don't try to 'fit everything in'.
Just to show that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, this is a pic I took the day I got my Sigma 85mm Art, and it's
terrible. To try to fit in the buildings, this is the same mistake IMHO, and I've ended up with a black sky and mundane foreground.
It had potential if in the late afternoon there was a great sunset and some attractive joggers ran past, but as it is, IMO this is a dud.