The Guiding Light

This is an outstanding photograph. Great composition, cool colors, and a fantastic overall impact. Here are a few things you can improve on, which can all be done in a quick 5-minute post-processing job on Photoshop. Because you're intent is to have your subject dead-center, create a 50% vertical guide and crop your photo so that the tip of the lighthouse matches with that line. Secondly, you can improve the dynamic range of your photo with levels and curves, making the color pop to help the photo stand out a little more. Play around with it (don't use RGB, adjust each channel separately to help bring out the colors you want). The first thing I usually do is move the two sliders on each end slightly closer to the center, where you find the first two peaks on each side. It's pretty easy to figure out. Master it, and you'll notice that the quality of your photos will improve dramatically.