In 2007 I went on a trip to Yorkshire, and took a photo of the River Wharfe, near Grassington.

It was ok, but I've not really been entirely happy with the image, and I decided to have a go at re-processing from the same digital negative. Advances in software alone can often make this a worthwhile activity, but in this case my own improved processing skills along with a more refined ability to determine what isn't right about an image also came into play.

It may not be an image that'll win any awards, but I'm satisfied with the degree of improvement I was able to make, and more importantly that I didn't simply settle for being just a bit better than before - fixing the crop and exposure took it a long way - but for each revision I looked at it and kept asking myself "Am I happy with this? How could it be improved?" and made quite a few tweaks before I could say there's nothing more to add, nothing more to take away.

This image originated from the palette of photos I captured when working on v2 of my Spirits in the Woods panel. I was experimenting with one idea when I saw potential for another, and took things in a different direction.

I've done a quick write-up showing the stages the image went through.

The Needles is a rock formation on the western tip of the Isle of White. As a tourist attraction it's a busy place at peak times - but not so much on a late November evening.

This image came from three bracketed ±2 shots at f/8, combined using Luminance HDR before being taken into Paint Shop Pro X for some quick cloning.

Some photographers claim to only take photographs for themselves, and it's a bonus if others like them too. This isn't a viewpoint I completely subscribe to, but I do tend not to explain my images - preferring to let the pictures set the scene for viewers to interpet in their own way.

With that in mind, all I will say here is: this piece is not as disordered as it might seem; it's all deliberate. The one bit that didn't work out as I wanted is the sky area - one day I'll create a revised version to put that right - but the rest is as intended.

Thinking in terms of versions of an image is a technique I'm finding useful - it allows me to complete images whilst accepting they aren't 100% how I'd like. Far better to consider an image as the first iteration than to have it remain unfinished and unseen by anyone else.