Question: I was down by Boston's Charles River Esplanade yesterday, and it was picture-postcard pretty. I took a break from my usual practice of taking pictures of my kids to take a picture of the view from the Longfellow Bridge:

![The Charles River and Back Bay neighborhood as seen from the Longfellow Bridge](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JbJHl.jpg)

And yep, it's postcard pretty. It looks like one of a million generic images one can find on 50¢ postcards in corner stores all over town — and in every other town in the world with a slightly different scene.

This is why I tend to make sure there's *people* in my pictures; I understand people and how they are unique and expressive, and can, in my best moments, make photographs of them that capture some of their special humanity. In a grand, metaphorical way, cities are often described as having personality — can one capture this in a cityscape photograph, or does that really only come out in street photography with *details* of people or architecture? I've seen some amazing cityscapes that did feel effective, but I can't really identify or quantify what it is about them that makes them work.

One could obviously go all postmodern on this, and apply special effects either in camera or in post-processing. But I'm not talking about that. I'm wondering about the straight genre of cityscapes — how can I say something more than "forgettable done-before postcard image"?

Answer: 
@DHall gave a good, complete answer. To give you a concrete example (and I have not stood on the same bridge as you did so I don't have an apples-to-apples image), I shot this:

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/EmeRt.jpg)

The differences between the two image (in my mind) are:

* In your image, the skyline occupies so little of the image that its impact is very low.
* In your image, nothing is distinctive about the clear sky or the blue water that hooks the viewer.

Why I chose to show my image is that it features a sky, a skyline, and water in the foreground. The treatment is a bit different, though. I waited for a particular time of day when the water would work for me, giving me reflections and an abstract leading-in foreground (the lights on the ferry boat give additional motion to what would otherwise be a "nice" but static image). There is also something happening in the sky, so it's not just a canvas of solid color which detracts from the effectiveness of the skyline as a central component.

You might have been more successful by cropping to a more "panoramic" aspect ratio, thereby emphasizing what's important and cropping out much of the sky and water, while still leaving enough to provide a sense of place:

[![crop of example image](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YEKZz.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YEKZz.jpg)
My 5 cents:

Some nature's effects will be a good (or maybe the best) option on this photo.

**Clouds**: before weather change, for example before storm, or big clouds of interested forms.

**Fog**: in the morning before, or just during sunrise.

**Time**: sunrise or sunset or eclipse of the sun! :) (I don't that place, maybe it's impossible to catch the sun from "useful" point).

**Composition**: big ship, or ordered line or yacht (regatta), fire ship: some object to "cheer up" this composition.

**[Fireworks](http://500px.com/photo/8004974)**: maybe it's possible.