Going home at sunset

[Herriot]

Taken as the sun went down over Koh Khai Nok island in the Phang Nga bay last Sunday afternoon on a Jeanneau 57 yacht.

Would greatly welcome any thoughts that could be shared to improve this.

Many thanks in advance,
Herriot

[Thoover]

Beautiful shot!!

[Greg McCary]

I like the composition. You might skew it some on the lower right and the top. Make it as symmetrical as you can and straighten the mast. Good work.

[Herriot]

Thanks Thoover, glad you like it.

Greg, many thanks for this feedback and I fully agree that things need to be straightened further but beyond the use of the ruler tool in PhotoShop, I am not quite sure how to proceed.

For example, how should I go about skewing the lowe right / top sections of the image specifically?

Best regards
Herriot

[Greg McCary]

The way I do it is to use the rectangle tool and rectangle the whole image. Then click>edit>transform>skew. Little boxes will appear on the corners of the image. Use your mouse and drag the lower right square until it matches the left side of the hull. Then drag the top left square left until the mast is straight. The skewing toosl are really awesome. You can shoot windows at very slight angle to avoid getting your reflection in them and then skew them to look shot straight on.

[Herriot]

Thank you Greg, I will get to this tonight, I usually keep my Photoshop edits to an absolute minimum but I can understand that the symmetry on this is really important so will give your recommendations a go and will share the results later.

Many thanks again!
Herriot

[Abner]

HI Herriot,
Awesome shot and I like the lighting, framing and yacht.
I think removing Island from top left will makes difference as it is getting attraction.

[Adamo]

What I really like are the gold tones. I can go either way with respect to removing the island. I can see where its distracting, but I think it also adds some perspective. The one thing I would fix is the horizon, it’s not straight. Great shot though

[llewpics]

Nice lighting in the photo, which is usually achieved at sunset / sunrise time. I think the quickest improvement to the existing image is to straighten the horizon - and fix the lens distortion. I would love to see you play with taking a photo of the whole boat, including the very tip in front and making its way all the way to the back - as deck makes for an interesting pattern. Of course, for this shot, you would have to be on another boat or land ...but, overall, I like it.

[Herriot]

Abner, thanks for your feedback, I quite liked having the island in the background to show where the yacht is travelling from but agree that it may be slightly distracting.

Adamo, Greg, I have followed the advice to use the skewing technique and agree that this is the tool to use, I am attaching an updated version, not sure if I could do a better job though??

llewpics, I love the idea to shoot from another boat in order to capture the entire yacht, it wasn't an option on the day but we could organise this in future so I will definitely bear this in mind.

Cheers
Herriot

[Greg McCary]

Nice job with the edit....

[baldemort]

Nice interesting shot and POV and lovely soft golden light.

[carlogalliani]

nice shot
well done

[GB1]

I like the original coloring and density much more, as the warm tone adds a nice feeling to the shot. I love the boat but do not like seeing the sky up there Even without the island(s), the sky is a let down from the rest, so something creative needs to be done here (perhaps add some threatening clouds?). The horizon is also tilting, so that must be corrected. Very nice texture and perceived sharpness...

G