A harmony of colors

[Jay Gould]

Hi this was the beginning of the evening of amazing sunsets.

Canon 40D
EF 24-105 @24mm
ISO 400
1/125 @ f/8
HH

As always, comments and critiques gratefully appreciated. Jay

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Jay,
This is a tough one for me compositionally. I liked that you thought of including a FG element in the image but in this case, it's size, distance to the other strong components in the frame make it a distraction rather than a benefit. Same goes for the smallish land mass on the horizon on the left. The white crop......my least favorite show an example of this. The red crop shows a strong vert presentation but eliminates most of the clouds.....which are the stars. The green crop puts the sun in the ROT position.....and this is my 2nd favorite.....but for me, just too much water.....that leaves the blue crop.....which is my favorite(although the vert is interesting alternative if you want more of the sun in the water) even though it places the sun in the middle.......why?.....you achieve a nice balance between water......which is the most uninteresting and the sky....with the clouds and the flare of the sun .....they are the stars......and this puts the emphasis solely on them. I probably could come up with a few more crops.......but you get the idea. Many times in landscapes......less is more!

[Jay Gould]

Roman, thank you so much for taking the time to analyze the image. I have looked at the image as you have, and ultimately decided that while the clouds are the star, without the piece of land and the boat, the image had no context. Is context - an indication of the location - important? The land and the boat tells the viewer where I was - on a boat away from land - when I made the image. Without the land and the boat I could have been standing anywhere. Do you need/should you tell a story or are the beautiful clouds all that is necessary in this type of image?

Thank you so much for taking the time; I have reposted the blue crop for consideration.

Cheers, Jay