Crop This? Sunset Over Lake Como

[Eduard]

"Tweener" from our recent trip to Italy. I love the colors, etc. I took this leaning out of our second floor window in the hotel in Varenna so not much chance to move around.

It feels like I should crop it but I've tried a couple ways and seem to be stuck. Should I crop out the vertical tree in the middle right of the image? That would remove some of the interesting mountain background. What about the tall tree on the left side of the image? Is it too distracting? Should I minimize the foliage in the foreground?

I appreciate any and all comments! Thanks in advance.

Shot with a Nikon D300, Nikkor 17-55 f/2.8 lens. Exposure is 55.0mm, 1/8, f/2.8 at ISO 800. Exposure bias -2/3.

[Preacherman]

Hi Eduard. I love Como and this is a wonderful revival of great memories for me. I can't see any left or right crop that would improve it. In fact quite the reverse. Maybe a bit off the bottom, but hey it looks great to me just as it is. Thanks. PAUL

[Sterling]

I think I'd try cropping the bottom just below the short,light horizontal line at the bottom of the closest building.

[Chip]

To me, the middle third of this photo is the most interesting part. Maybe try cropping the top just below where the sky ends on the left, and crop the bottom just below the buildings in the foreground?

Beautiful spot, and I like the colors and mood you've captured.

[Eduard]

Seems like general consensus is to crop the bottom. I did a quick crop via Lightroom and this is what it looks like.

[Bluenoser]

I wouldn't have cropped the bottom, there's good detail in there. In fact I'd try to bring that detail out more. LR is great tool for doing that.

I would crop the top just above the first mountain range. The second mountain and sky look flat and boring to me.

Nice image....

[Sterling]

^^^Just illustrates we all have different points of view. It's obviously a nice shot no matter how you slice it up. For me, this photo is all about the beautiful blue colors of the water, mountains, and sky with the orange buildings just providing contrast and context. I might see keeping the foreground if the buildings were the main subject. They look nice, but for me, don't really look compelling enough to be the main focus of this shot.

Eduard, I think I would crop it a little more by removing most of the large dark tree on the right side in order to bring the frame into a little more traditional portrait aspect. It may just be my imagination, but could it also use a slight ccw rotation?

[Eduard]

Thank you everyone for all of the comments! I really appreciate it!

Bluenoser: I have to agree and decided to put more of the foliage back in.

Sterling: Your suggestion of cropping on the left is where I originally started! Great minds?

I believe this is the final image. . . unless another awesome idea gets thrown my way!

[Sterling]

That's looking really good Eduard! Good decision to include a little more foliage.