Early morning in Kutztown, PA

[Jason]

I went to visit a couple of old friends for a day in rural Pennsylvania. I left early the next morning and was fortunate to have gotten my but out of bed before the sun came up (which was no small feat given the amount of beer consumed the night before!).

[Runmonty]

given the amount of beer consumed the night before!).

Ah - that explains the focus

Seriously though - what a beautiful scene, well worth getting up for. The mist, the clouds (contrails? ) and the reflected sun off the road really make this for me. I think my personal preference would have been for the trees on the left to be in focus rather than the foreground branch - but that is just me.

[asnow]

I don't mind the background out of focus, but I think I agree with Runmonty in preferring the trees on the left to be in focus.

"...given the amount of beer consumed" - you did well in getting the horizon level.

[Marko]

I really like the sun between the 2 trees but I'm not sure the foreground branch is doing anything to help the scene - I might consider cropping it out for a squarer crop overall.

[Mike Bons]

I would agree with whats been said so far. I find that there are competing components to this scene. My eye wants to travel down that road and towards the brightest area of the image but its also wants to go to the sharpest area of the image which of course is the branches in the foreground left. I do like the overall composition of the image, and I do think it would have been a killer image if it were all in focus.

[Jason]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I took a bunch of shots that morning, I'll have to revisit some of them.

[Jason]

Here's a different shot from that morning, the trees are more the focus of the image. Let me know what you think.

[asnow]

I really like this one. Love the reflection on the road and how the road leads you through the trees to the distance.

[Marko]

Position of sun was better in last version imo, but I prefer this version, much stronger. - great that you can go back so easily.

[Mike Bons]

Position of sun was better in last version imo, but I prefer this version, much stronger. - great that you can go back so easily.

My thoughts exactly.