The first thing that I noticed is that the pic appears to be slightly out of focus. You are right about the shadows, a sunset or sun rise would have boosted the colours all round.

If you had taken two steps forward or changed your angle slightly you would have been able to cut the two boulders at the bottom left and right. Maybe even if you had taken the shot from a lower vantage to try and frame it between the rocks?

Your sky is washed out and that adds to the feeling of grey dampness. Sums up Ireland pretty well actually.

If I was in your shoes looking at that scene in those conditions I think I would have focused more on the bost and less on the surrounding. A shot of the boat looking down the prow maybe just showing the rock it is balanced on may have worked. For crappy grey days, i.e. 90% of the year, a macro lens and flash can open up a lot more photo ops.

Something also to consider during your composition is the rule of thirds explained very well here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Oh and I talk a better photo than I take. I have been threatening to do something like this for a while and with three weeks off I might just do just that.

Thanks for the tips Bumps.

The wreck of the boat is actually about 300 yards from the inlaws house. I'll probably head back to it and try that (though not atually boarding it as thats just daft).

I'll take a look at the originals to see if they are all out of focus. I have a lsigt concern that the UV filter I have on the lens is causing me problems with the autofocus. It may also be that damn aperture thing (which I was still getting to grips with at the time) - actually looking back at the setting f/5.6 might be just daft, I've probably focused on some random object thats since been cropped from the pic.

thanks for the comments though. Keep them up!