Fooling around at the Washington Monument.

[MB1]

I went out the get the sunrise but had some time to kill before work.

Fooled around with this.

Thoughts?

I also cropped it square, better?

[GB1]

MB - Was definitely worthy of a shot, and good attempt on the unconventional. The good is the flag's color, shape, and the monument. The sky is a little blown but I dont feel that it really harms the shot. The bad IMO is the out of focus flag pole and it's loss of any detail that you might have gotten if it were in focus. It just contrasts too sharply with the monument's detail and nice exposure.

Keep taking an unconventional approach. I've tried myself and had mixed results, need to find that ideal angle too.
G

[DrRoebuck]

I like the vertical one more, but I agree with GB: I would like to see more detail in the flagpole, as well as the upper reaches of the monument.

Perhaps you should insert some power lines.

[MarcusK]

MB, I am not sure the size here can do justice in order to decide which of the crops is better... since in the square the flag looks great! (if in full size the vertical crop shows the flag bigger then.....)

But yeah the blurred pole would have been better if in focus!

Overall though... both are great shots!

Marc

[MB1]

I have to admit that the idea of getting a greater DOF here never really came to me while I was shooting. My usual workflow is to shoot my widest lens wide open in marginal light but I don't often have DOF issues shooting my normal landscapes. In this case I was holding the camera against the pole for stability for an exposure a bit too long for hand held.

No reason I couldn't break out the tripod (as long as the Park Police don't bust me for it seeing as how tripods are against their regulations but it isn't always enforced) to get that longer exposure with a stepped down F stop.

Sometimes it just takes a second eye on the result (or third or fourth or fifth.......).