Small part of Parliament House, Canberra

[Jim A]

Took this pic last month as we were travelling in Australia. Wondering if you think it would be better with less people in it to draw more attention to the architecture?

[billtils]

Jim, I would go in the opposite direction - crop the top (maybe about a quarter) and leave the people - they add interest to the image. Hope you enjoy(ed) your Aussie trip.

[pnodrog]

I would try a drastic crop. First a crop across the top so none of the roof structure is showing. Then crop down the middle (shadow side) of the righthand column that will shave out the child and remove the mother and finally a crop across the bottom off from where the righthand crop intersects the lower edge of the floor shadow the child is standing on.

This places a solitary figure more or less in the vertical centre and close to the lower horizontal third.

This I think would result in a much simpler but more dramatic image.

[Geoff F]

I would definitely crop the top to simplify the scene. Then a little from the bottom and maybe a fraction from the right side. Perhaps lose half of the first pillar? I would like to remove that pillar but that leaves an unconnected shadow.

I prefer to keep the first two figures (woman and child) because the distant person is too far away

[escape]

Both cropping options suggested are improvements, but they diminish an aspect of the image's interest: the height of the scene. The eyes look up to the ceiling, but curiosity draws them to the skylight. (At least, for me, it is that way.) So, for that reason, I would be inclined to leave it as it is with only one small change. I would remove the elliptical disk in the bottom right-hand corner to maintain uniformity in the shadow patterns.

[Manfred M]

I like this image Jim and I have played with it and explored some of the suggestions other have made here. The main issue with the suggested crops is that they significantly alter the "story" here, without making significant improvements to the image.

I find the people work fine, the way you have them as they bring life to a static scene and give it a sense of scale.

I find that the little bright triangle in the bottom corner is a bit distracting and find some of the highlight, especially the wall on the left just a touch "hot". I might adjust those areas, but leave the rest as is.

If you open your image in Lightbox mode (just click on your image) and use the toggle keys to go back and forth between the two versions, you can better evaluate the impact of my tweaks.