Channel Islandsby
TomComment: You could have made much use of the rules to get a much much better lighting by taking three photos from on a tripod and put them together. very nice anyways 6
Hi
The site and point of view of your photo are really perfect to make a great shot, and you have the "expert rules" to work under; Place the camera on the tripod and get the composition that you like, what you have for this submission is really good; then take three or four shots; or as many as needed, fixing the light metering and focus for the up close plants, the farther ones, for the sea, for the isles and for the sky; make sure you do not move or shake the camera at all while in the process. Then take these "number" of photos to any, hopefully high-end, editing program and compose the final photo from them all.
The quality of the final photo will be greatly influenced by your editing ability; the ability to put a flawless composition from a number of photos.
A tip: Place the very rear layer (sky and clouds) as a background when editing, then adjust it to your taste, do not divert a whole lot from what nature looks like; then place the photo that is supposed to go before the last on top of it; after that, select the areas from the second layer you want to erase to reveal the sky beneath, "feather" your selection then erase!; and before you move to the next layer make sure to adjust the brightness, contrast and feel of each layer to match the one(s) beneath it; then move on to the next layer and next layer ..
Good luck
Tareq