Sunrise on Route 80 in Pennsylvannia.

I saw this sunrise on Interstate 80 about 5 in the morning after

driving all night. As soon as I saw this, I wanted to pull over, but

further down the road hills obscured the sky. I was really tired,

plus very sick and was tempted just to drive on, but I decided to

turn around and go back. The next exit was about 15 miles. I

finally got back to the spot. I set up my rolleiflex on a tripod on

the side of the highway, nearly pitch darkness. Tractor-trailers

were whizzing by at 80 mph. I took a few pictures at different

settings, and was on my way. Later, I sent the film to be

developed. When it came back, I found that when the developers were

cutting the negative, they cut right through the bottom of the image

on the best shot!!! Ugh! Anyway, some creative scanning fixed this,

and so here it is. So please tell me what you think. I forced

myself to go back and get this picture. I think it was worth it.

What about you? If you look carefully, you'll notice that some of

the branches are a bit out of focus. Do you think this detracts from

the photo at all? Thank you.

I'm a sucker for tree at sunset/sunrise pictures, and I like this one. The soft focus on the tree doesn't bother me (but I suppose if I were being nitpicky it would improve the image to have it in sharp focus). I like the shot as it is. I like to "underexpose" these kinds of images to darken the sky towards the top of the frame. Did you do that here, or did it actually look this way? Just curious.

The tree actually works well, since the eye is drawn to the sharp sawtooth horizon at the center of color. So the softness of the tree actually enhances, rather than detracts from, the central element. Very nice...it was worth the U-turn.

I really love the contrast of the black tree against the rich blue of the night sky. My only comment for change is that I would have kept the horizon lower in the frame (if possible) to enhance the feeling of the tree clawing upwards to pull the night sky back down to earth.

I live in Pennsylvania and we do have beautiful sunrises and sunsets here .. you sure have captured one of them.

My boyfriend just leaned over my shoulder and said that he loved your shot, specifically the colors. I thought about letting it pass, but then I figured that photographers sometimes get tired of always hearing what other photographers have to say all the time.

Yeah, the result was worth the effort of going back. You get a double benefit too-- the picture itself, and the unique memory of taking it.

To answer Scott's question: The sky was nearly pitch black away from where the sun was coming up. I didn't underexpose or darken the periphery. I think the way the clouds were kept the rest of the sky dark.