The top image is of some wheels connected to a pump at the Desert Queen Mine in Joshua National Park. The bottom image is almost the same, with some obvious differences.
In the original image (top) note the dead space in the upper left corner. I was not happy about the overall composition when I noticed the emptiness through the viewfinder. I took a few images anyway, why not? As I was pondering how to fix the composition, I noticed some extra pieces laying off to the side. I picked up a folding piece of metal and added it to the upper left corner (bottom image). This extra piece added some additional circles which appear elsewhere, and also some strong straight lines, also appearing elsewhere in the image.
The second obvious change between the original image and the modified image is the use of a sepia tone. Since the pump wheels appear very old, it made sense to make a monotone image.
I guess the moral of the story is, don’t accept dead space in your images if you don’t have to!
Desert Queen Mine location: N34 02 13.79 W116 08 01.15