Jet at Dawn

I appreciate any thoughts or ideas you're willing to share.

Hey Kelly,

 

This shot is a toughie for me to critique. I don't really take sunrise/sunset shots, so it's not my area of expertise.

 

It's hard for anyone these days to pass off a sunrise/sunset shot as not being cliché. I can see past that and I do, but there are things that confuse me as a viewer.

 

Based on the title of the submission, the focus is supposed to be on the jet trail. Due to the composition of the image, the jet trail is such a miniscule makeup of the image. The issue I'm having is that I don't know how to recrop to change it. The shot is so vertical that cropping the top will only make the jet trail less apparent, and cropping the bottom takes out the sun. Side cropping makes the image even more of a vertical panorama, which for skies and nature shots I personally tend to dislike (though others may disagree).

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the entire shot. I like the colors and the smooth transition from the orange hue of the sun to the blues of early morning.

 

Perhaps if the shot were taken in landscape orientation? Then again, with a 28-80 on a D50, that would almost not allow the jet trail and sun to be in the same shot, but you could have done a photostitch and merged them (if you haven't tried that before, it's easier than you think, I promise).

 

Overall, I think you did all you could to incorporate both important focal points in the image. Tough shot to "nail," but you did give it a go!

 

Hopefully I was somewhat helpful!

 

--Ryan

Ryan, Thanks for your critique! I totally agree that not many sunrise/sunset pictures are anything but cliche, but I still like them when they're good. I liked this shot probably because being there in person was really cool. I'll have to look and see if I have any with the jet trail that are landscape. I'm considering cropping some off the top. I think it could bring the Jet "closer" to the eye.