Jason, it's funny, with HDR technology at our fingertips we all sort of expect every rock and stone to be illumninated as brightly as a sky these days... You almost forget about the beauty in simplicity like you have here with the terra firma being all a silhouette. I think this has potential, it just needs a few tweaks. Your sky is great especially near the horizon, and the sun is superb. The horizizon line is also good especially with the peak in the left third. But where it needs recropping IMO is to get that horizon down more away from the center. There's too much silhouette I think, if you tried moving it down and giving us more of the main subject which is the grand sky and sunset, the mind will still get enough data to process the silhouette and know what it is. Is there more sky available in the original? Or is it too plain, no clouds, etc? Just darkening the top of a plain sky adds a nice dimension.
One other thought: if you were to get someone interested in this as a graphic design image where they would be putting text over it, then the silhouette area becomes key and you could probably even show more of it in that situation.
Great sky! Must have been neat to be there in person.
Thanks for the insights. I essentially followed the rule of thirds in cropping the image and placed the horizon in the bottom third. There's no more sky to add so I'll try taking away more of the ground to provide a tighter crop. Thanks for the C&C!
To be honest, this shot doesn't do much for me. The sky is not dramatic enough to hold my attention and to be the main focus of the image. That being said, your two shots below these on Flickr are stunning! The first of those might be a bit dark, the second a bit light.
I'm with Grant on this one, but you were soooo close. If that cloud hadn't been there under the sun blocking the horizon this image would have had more potential for greater color. Such are the trials of nature photography . I also agree you have some really nice work on Flickr.
Remember on NPN you can post up to 720 px on the longest side. Your posts here will have more impact if posted a bit larger.
Discussion
5 repliesOne other thought: if you were to get someone interested in this as a graphic design image where they would be putting text over it, then the silhouette area becomes key and you could probably even show more of it in that situation.
Great sky! Must have been neat to be there in person.
Remember on NPN you can post up to 720 px on the longest side. Your posts here will have more impact if posted a bit larger.