Sunset over the Salt Lake valley

[Tumber]

F13
1/50th of a second

[llewpics]

I think the blue section is really not needed ...I would have preferred a crop to about a middle up the scene ...and would actually like to see more mountains to the left and the right. I think this would give it a little bit more of a "valley sunset" feel....

[t200]

Killer sunset!

[Photo-John]

Nice sunset, Tumber. Is this a Salt Lake City smogset or was this on one of our rare clean air days this winter? Looks like a clean air day to me.

I disagree with llewpics on the blue area at the top. Most sunset photos are all red and orange. For me, it's the blue area at the top that sets this apart and makes it more interesting. A normal sunset photo is sort of an in-your-face one trick pony. But that blue at the top gives this sunset added depth. It's suggestive of something bigger - more meaningful, even. It takes my attention away from the obvious and makes think outside the frame - that lets it step out of the realm of pretty pictures and into the world of what I consider real Art. I think maybe it might work better in print, hanging on a wall, though. Here on the Web, it might be hard to really give it the calm, slow attention it deserves.

[Photo-John]

Killer sunset!

Why? What's good about it? Take a little time and give Tumber some real useful criticism, please. On the Photo Critique forum, we ask that you do more than just say you like a photo. In fact, you sell yourself short when you don't take a little time to analyze a photo. The act of analyzing and articulating what is good and bad about a photo arguably teaches the critic more than the photographer who took the picture. So how about you give it another shot and tell us why this is a "killer sunset."

Thanks

[Tumber]

@llewpics..Thank you for the feedback. I have looked at the picture with both the blue on it and removed and I like the picture with the blue better, so I keep it that way. I don't know if you have been to the Salt Lake valley, but we are pretty much surrounded by mountains except on the south and north. This picture was taken facing north-west so I was taking the picture out over the Great Salt Lake and the angle I was at just caught small parts of the mountains.

@Photo-John, It wasn't durring the winter that I took this picture. It was actually almost 2 years ago. I was sitting on Wasatch Blvd around the Mt Olympus trailhead drinking a slurpee and I had my camera and tripod and I was just sitting there so I snapped off a bunch of pictures and this was one of them. Since it was the spring, there wasn't the inversion keeping the bad air in the valley so it was quite clear.

[Dan143]

I think I would much love it when the it was taken landscape and not portrait. But this one is wonderful. Thumbs up!

[Photo-John]

I think I would much love it when the it was taken landscape and not portrait. But this one is wonderful. Thumbs up!

Good feedback on the framing, Dan. But what did you like about the photo? Why do you think it's wonderful? Trying to understand and articulate what is good is just as important as sharing what you think could be better. Making that effort is as important for your own photography as it is for Tumber - maybe even more so. By taking the time to analyze what you like about this image, you will be able to apply what you learn to your own future photos.

[slowerthensnot]

Love the range of color, I found my eyes seem to be drawn to the yellow and the clouds seem a bit soft and not that sharp? I do like the portrait vrs landscape for this shot.. I think it adds to the spectrum of color feel to the shot

[rossi46]

I do agree with llewpics that the blue distracts abit.
In a clearer sky without clouds, with the blue blending smoothly with orange, maybe that can work.
But with this sky that is quite cloudy, it makes it look alittle bit messy.

Secondly, the sun is washed out. I am always having this problem, and I do not know how to fix it.

Finally, what I thought prevented from making this a very good image is lack of really strong foreground in silloouhettes, something like a strongly shaped mountain, or a hut foreground, etc...

[Neous]

Nice capture on the range of colors, and though you might not want to put the horizon in the middle of your frame i think it's a bit too low

[GB1]

Tumber - Personally, I love the blue mixing with the oranges and yellow. Cool and warm at the same time!!

But as nice as the colors are, I am not sure I like the sun here: it's a bit too soft for me, hence not a great subject, and sort of making me scan all over the image to find something else to latch on to.

I think this is why it's so important to have mountain, building, crane, etc shapes in a sunset - it's just too hard to make a sunset super interesting w/o them. Maybe they have been done too many times - they need other elements to spice them up to make a shot rise above the 5/10 category.

G