Sometimes the world does not give you much to work with. It’s a good principle in travel sequences to include photos that show what it was like to be at the location. However, while large waves out in the ocean may be integral to the site, photos of distant waves lack drama … and just about every other aspect of photo appeal. One trick is to show tourists reacting to the attraction, rather than just the attraction itself.

Here is the original image of some guys watching the waves at Spanish Bay, on the 17 Mile Drive near Monterey, California. Did I mention that 17 Mile Drive is longer than you might think? Never mind.

This needs cropping. The guy walking into the scene is a distraction, but to get rid of him I had to take out the guy standing by the fence. The sidewalk is not interesting. The sky is problematic. The rule is not to have the horizon centered, but in this case the sky has some interest and it helps provide an impression of what the day was like.

The wave of interest is easier to see in the larger version, here. Three of the guys are looking at something out of frame to the right. I didn’t see much of interest over there. Had there have been a girl in bikini, I would have noticed.

It is not art. The word adequate comes to mind. I think it is reminiscent of an old travel brochure.

I tried applying a painting effect. I use the Topaz Labs Simplify2™ filter in Photoshop™. The colorful paint effect produces:

The paint effect makes the photo seem more modern. It looks like the 60s rather than the 50s.