Sun Dog before rain-sleet-slush in July.

A polarizer was used to shoot this sun dog just before a rain-sleet-

slush storm in the San Juan mountains of Colorado. The .tif version

of this file, which is large, shows the sky with better detail. This

is the best of several attempts to downsize it to .jpg. I like the

composition, although it does not conform to the rule of thirds. Any

comments or suggestions?

I like this image just as it is!!!!!!! Beautiful!!!!! I think that the darker cloud formation that fills much of the lower right quadrant of the frame compensates for the rule of thirds nicely. I hope you took a number to explore various options.... did you have time for that?

Thanks, Dick. I actually took only two and this one is a little better, to my eye, because it includes a sliver of the sun. I tried other compositions, but didn't think they looked as good in the view finder!

A very striking photograph. I do find the image a little dark overall but any more exposure would probably have blown out the brighter spots. Good composition - except the bit of land (?) on lower right. I would crop that out. Good idea of including the bit of sun - I would have been tempted to leave it out but that would have resulted in a much less dramatic image.

I think that cropping the land on the lower right would also remove the clouds on the lower left... and that I wouldn't want to do. I think the clouds lend a balance to the whole of the image that would be absent if they were gone.

I think it's dark too, but I don't think there's anything wrong with dark.. it's all about mood and you've captured it here! My imagination is running away with me! Leave it the way it is!!!

I like the moment you captured here (I'm generally fascinated by weather), but I don't like the composition. While I'm not some rule of thirds fanatic, this composition pulls me out of the picture--like a moth, I'm drawn to the light, which makes it difficult to appreciate the monumental clouds below.

 

Still, very interesting shot!

Hello John...I love the shot... the refraction capture is great...Looks like a winner for the cover of a cosmology text. One of the better captures I've viewed. Good job!

Because the left-hand side of the central cloud formation forms a line that points toward the sun, I had hoped that would be a strong enough composition element. It is very helpful to have some different points of view. Thanks for the thoughtful comments!