Seeing With A Fresh Eye

I was printing an image for a customer, an image I particularly like. I am on the third 'edition' as Brooks Jensen calls it - each time I think I'm finished an image and ready to sell it, that's an edition, then any time I re-edit the image after that makes for a new edition - I like the concept.

The changes I was making involved cropping - I frankly don't understand how I could not have seen this as the right way to crop it but somehow I didn't despite two previous attempts. it really does seem to be 'another day, a new way of seeing'.

It seems to come down to a matter of priorities - sometimes one has different priorities - on Tuesday the corner is critical, but on Thursday the sunlight on the left is paramount. Nothing wrong with either changing one's mind for good and valid reasons, or for that matter to be uncertain which is best.

In the bottome image, I cropped tightly, but in hind sight, why ever did a crop off the corner of that light area on the left. A second attempt rescued the entire light area on the hull, but complicated things, perhaps unnecessarily.

In the top most image, the most recent version, I have cropped to the corner of the sunlit hull and tightened things on the right so the sweeping reverse C on the hull reaches the edge of the image. I've given the bow a little more breathing room, but darkened the water around it to better match the rest of the water.

Is this the perfect composition? No idea - just the best I can do on the day.