@mwsilvers and everybody in this discussion
Your comparison in DxO PhotoLab 4 and Candid Photos shows a valid point. These big white buildings, being on the same vertical axis like the pelican, can easily distract from the subject – proven by your ‘clean’ version.
To me, it’s because you cropped the pic to square and converted to B&W. In this version, I would reduce the brightess of the boat to give the pelican a bit more importance. Maybe a gentle vignette would also help. Otherwise it’s fine (and yes, you were talking to Mike to show him his nice photo).
A different solution is this from PhotoLab 4 with X-rite i1Display Studio display calibrator First, being a colour version, the dark pelican with its bright beak (high contrast to cyan) dominates the sky. But then also with the landscape format, the buildings along the skyline appear less relevant. When you check the enclosed dop-file, you see that I also balanced the brightness of the boat and the buildings to the pelican’s head and neck. Like this, the three white ‘patches’ form a triangle and support the subject
– at least that was my idea.
and most importanly – have fun, Wolfgang 