Returning from a mission over Afghanistan.

Reality dropped on the surreal. That works.

Amazing.

Taken after a night mission over Afghanistan. This is how these

mountains really look.

Wow. Looks alot like water-color painting is all I can say. Beautiful!

Pity that you had to drop a bomb on this beautiful landscape. Excellent picture. Probably if the plane were slightly to the right, I would have liked it more. Congrats.

Lovely landscape + good timing + historic context = a real winner.

This leaves me speechless! 10/10

I actually uttered "WOW!" when I saw this thumbnail. What an amazing image! Excellent use of depth of field to give a sense of the vastness of the countryside.

Just leave it as it is. This is Best of the Best of the Best...-:)

Worthy of POW! A simple and outstanding image.

The first 10/10 I've ever given! Absolutely breathtaking! Tell all your friends we support all of you 100% in Afghanistan! We're with our armed forces all the way! :) Give 'em hell!!

Worked with PS 7 on this.

Well, here's one Brit who's backing you up 100 per cent. I was in the RAF during Desert Storm, and wish all you Yanks the best. Finish the job on Saddam!

a m a z i n g !!!

Great shot, but I would not want to make an emergency landing there...

Wow! Wow! and in case I haven't metioned , Wow!

 

When I fisrt saw the thumb, I thought they were clouds, only from a closer look I could see texture. Great picutre, leave the plane in the middle, its small enough not to upset me and gives depth to the mountains.

 

Show us more pics taken from your plane. Hope they are as good as this one.

THIS ought to be photo of the week. "Heroes," I hope you read me Lima Charlie on that one. God Bless America.

Great Photo.

Stay safe, come home and show us more good photography. Maybe not the right forum for this statement, but I can't resist on 911.

those are real mountains? man it looks like a steak knife under a microscope!

The prominent placement of the jet puts it at odds with the serene landscape. Move it to the left (using the rule of thirds) and the jet would blend more harmoniously with the landscape. This would be relatively simple to achieve using PhotoShop. Personally, I would have erased the jet from the picture altogether, thus gaining a bonus image where the tranquil landscape remains uninterrupted.

I'm with Trevor on this. The jet is small and centered horizontally and just not really interesting, relevant to current events or not. Remove it and you have an absolutely stunning landscape photo. With it, it mars the composition--not because it's a fighter jet or because it's an airplane at all, but because if it were a kite or a bird or an angel descending from Heaven in that very same spot, dead center a third of the way up from the bottom of the frame, it would mar the picture just as much.

How can you guys complain about the airplane!!! I know it's a great shot of the mountains, but the airplane gives a dimension of TIME to the timeless. After all, this might be one of the only times that you'll ever see a jet fighter landing amidst the endless mountains of Afghanistan. If you guys had a painting of the Charge of The Light Brigade you'd probably say "I wish that those horses didn't wreck the nice view of the valley!!" Come on, nobody likes war, but it was one of the most significant facts of the past year and photography is the art that documents history. As far as the aesthetics go, I like it very much. It is very dangerous to tweak it in photoshop because you could spoil the "water-color" effect (as another poster called it). Congratulations on a very competant photo.

Really beautiful. Monochromatic...

 

I prefer it with the aircraft. But it would be better a little to the right. Not a bit problem.

 

Congratulations.

 

Really a pity it dropped a bomb on this beautiful landscape.

Hi Robert this is an amazing photo and you are lucky for being able to take it. I would sharpen it a little and crop some of the upper part. Othewise it is perfect .. oh yes and maybe play a little with color filters to make that nice blue even more amazing.

An absolutely