Hi Paul, every now and then a picture arrives that doesn’t need much help at all. This is one of them. Three things make this a great photo. The weather, your choice of moment and the composition. Your son is placed perfectly in the frame and the railings on the left and right work well to create the leading lines.
The hotspot of sunshine creates a warm destination on an otherwise cloudy day while at the same time the bend in the path in the distance creates a beautiful design twist. Overall, I think you have handled it well, both in camera and in postproduction.
Suggestions? Just two. First, I’d like to see a little more information in the grassy areas, either side of the path. Not a lot, just a small increase in brightness and contrast. Second, I think the picture might work better if you added a slightly warm tone. Use your image editor's colour balance adjustment to add a little warmth.
If you have access to Photoshop go to Image > Adjustments > Colour Balance and click the Shadows button. Drag the Cyan-Red slider to +5 and the Yellow-Blue slider to -6. It’s a small change on screen, but it should make a big difference in print. Good effort.
To the Beach
