I found this photo in my rejected images while cleaning up my Lightroom travel photography archives. I took it during a sunset cruise along the East River on my trip to New York about 3 years earlier. The fireboat was spraying the water for the tourists’ amusement, and I was taking photographs against the sun through the water.
Loc: 40.71165, -73.97082
I remember I saw the potential in this urban landscape but was never happy with the composition, and after a few attempts to change the framing by applying different crops in Lightroom I gave up and marked it as rejected.
When I saw this photo again 3 years later, right away I knew exactly what to do; I changed the aspect ratio from 3×2 to panoramic and the composition was dramatically improved. It was ready to be posted. I guess sometimes it takes 5 minutes to process an image, but other times, 3 years.
Deconstructing Featured Photo
- Camera: Canon 60D
- Lens: Sigma 17-70mm
- Focal Length: 19mm
- ISO: 100
- Aperture: F8
- Shutter Speed: 1/160
- Bracketing: single shot
- Tripod:Â handheld
Viktor, not only is your treatment of this photo brilliant, but you also demonstrate a great reason why no one should trash any images during edit sessions (unless they’re accidental shots of your shoes) but only to reject them and visit those images weeks, months or even years later. Frequently (maybe all the time, actually) we are our own worst critics. There are many gems to be found on taking a second look, or maybe a third. Great blog!
Thanks a lot for your kind words. Also, thanks for letting me to discover your Lightroom blog. Love it. I will be checking it often.