Here are a few ideas I had (some others have given similar suggestions already), but they are mostly personal taste except for the first couple of composition changes.

1. There is too much black cloud color at the top and too little building silhouette at the bottom. I suggest you put back the bottom you cut off and then cut more of the top.

2. Then cut the final photo to follow the suggestion of 2/3 rule, which is not a rule but which would help you composition in this case.

3. To me, you have too much contrast which makes the photo really dismal and hides some details in the shadows. In the photo attached, I reduced the contrast by 60 in IrfanView, which is a lot.

4. Just in case there was some noise in the original post of this i mage or my adjusts revealed any noise, I applied a 67 of plain Blur in IrfanView which is the same as de-noising in some other programs.

5. After changing the contrast, I sharpened the photo which is often needed after de-noising and changing the contrast.

6. Then I applied the smallest amount of Median filter (3) in IrfanView which helps to reduce any artificial artifacts. A bit of sharpening is usually necessary after this.

7. To me, there is very little color in the image, so I thought that making a black-and-white image by changing it to grayscale would have more punch. So the attached image is b&w.

Be challenged and intrigued by taking more photos and working with them. Hold off on direct sun photos which can be very hard to work with after taking. --Richard

I think you may be overconcerned about this particular image.

Only advice have is keep submitting and shoot what you love and keep the lowsest ISO you can to keep noise from effecting your image. I would suggest that over sharpening images is to be avoided.

Curious as to what agencies you are with. I am with Getty and Alamy.

Please send me a private message and I will give you my image sites on these agencies. I would be happy to look at your images as well. I am retired but have been a professional stock shooter since 1970.

1) As someone mentioned, proof/tune your photo on what the “agency” is using for choosing what they buy. TV monitors are made for motion, not still photos. They generate a lot of funky colors that are not there in your photo. I assume agencies review on a computer monitor. 2) I am looking at your photo on an iPhone. Here I se a lot artifacts from over-sharpening: a) the dark band around the lamp post b) the white linear halos along the margins of the buildings and the windows, c) the lighter sky seen thru the trees. All are from over sharpening and remember that the new “noise reduction” apps, whether in LR, Topaz AI, or On1 NoNoise all sharpen the edges ( without telling you) when they “reduce” noise. And at the end, they change to exposure and colors automatically to make it look better. But they do this to areas they have selected automatically. And they repeatedly choose to not select the space between the branches between trees. That is why trees often come out funky.
But the big question has been asked by others: did bou need to sharpen at all ( beyond what Noise Reduction programs do)?
The answer, in this photo is: No. Clouds normally fade off at the edges. No need to sharpen a sky! (Admittedly, you might want to change the contrast, highlights or shadows in the sky, cut even that can occasionally cause halos or fringing…. So look at all parts of your photo at 100% magnification for these every time you make any change!)
You asked for opinions, hope this is to too much.

Hello everyone

I am not a professional photographer, and have a lot to learn. That being said, I have sold a number of pictures over the last years by being lucky. But I have been having more problems than usual lately, and while I have a pretty good average of my pictures accepted by photo agencies, more lately have been not accepted than in the past. I have taken a much more critical look at my pictures lately, and am not happy with them. I feel it is time I learned to step up to a new level. Lately, the pictures have seemed noisier than usual, need more sharpening, which seems to increase noise, and when viewed on a 70 inch tv at 100% I see some color fringing, usually white or grey, around the limbs of trees and such. I am using a mirrorless camera with a professional 24-105 lens. I never used to notice this, but I do now. Getting rid of that fringe could take me a lot of time if I could do it at all. Especially around numerous tree branches. I am submitting a picture that I hope that those who have the time can give me severe criticism of the following picture, and/or suggestions for improvement. I realize that that does take time for people to do, and I do appreciate it.

Anyway, I wonder what criticisms can be thrown at this particular picture. It looks much brighter on my tv than on my pc, so I have darkened it some. I have, to a small amount decolored it as well, but not too much. I also cropped in on the bottom just a little due to a wall I thought was just a little distracting.

Any help would be appreciated.