Hi George,
from the title it appears that you see the person reading the book as the subject. If so, it is very small in the image so it doesn't get very much attention.
What do you like about the image?
What is the 20% that you would like to change?
There are several options open for increasing the impact while still concentrating on the girl.
See what you think of cropping the image using the same ratio as you have here but start the right hand side just to the left of the two people walking away. That would move the subject to the right just a bit and cut down on the competing distractions, like the two people and the white truck, on the pier.
Next, if you can do any post processing, she is wearing red/pink which is an attention getter. Perhaps you could increase the brightness and vibrancy of just her to give her more separation from the schooner, Kajama.
Lastly, you might be able to add some contrast to the sky to being out a hint of definition and avoid some of the bland sky look.
Big lake nice pic; but it isn't actually Reading is it. A university I like although it didn't make the grade into the Sutton 13.
I think your composition skills are really good but the sky is a bit too close to being blown. I sot of think this is going to look great in a print.
Hi George,
I like the original. The curve of the quayside leads you into the picture; I think needs to be there.
I think the crop loses an important part of the composition, without it.
It’s a shame the bench and lady were positioned where they were. I know there is nothing you could have done about it, but in an idea world I would have liked them to be in this position.
This is my rubbish PP attempt to show you my thoughts.
Thanks Frank, I tried the crop you suggested and it is better but I didn't want to lose the context of the lake. The pic was taken at about a half hour before sundown and boat had to be lightened. The sky and the sweater are adjusted but don't know enough about Lightroom yet to target specific areas so I was limited in range. Even pushing it there is not much in the sky.
Thanks Steve, Took a bit of research to translate the comment about Reading and the Sutton 13 from the English but I learned something.
This pic used the panning feature from a Sony RX100 and I had to try it a couple of times. It was cropped minimally. I didn't have the panning speed right so the original had a blank area to the right. The original is 8192x1856 pixels and was cropped to 6358x1856. The camera was on auto mode. Specs are f/2.5 , 1/500sec, ISO125.
I tried to bring out the sky - but there is not much there, will try again. I was a semi-serious amateur with a film camera but having been using simple point and shoots for the past 10 years or so. Just getting into PP and still have a lot to learn.
Thanks John, This is great! Your change makes the whole picture. You're right, I didn't want to get too close and disturb her. So far I've been playing with Lightroom and have limited PP experience. After your post I looked at a youtube tutorial about using GiMP to do what you did, so its another tool I need to learn. What did you use to make the change? what steps?
BTW - The quay isn't curved, its a distortion due to the panning shot. See my reply to Steve above.