Last kiss of the sun.

[leuallen]

First picture, the sun is just at the horizon. About 2 min latter, this is what it looked like.

Larry

[luxborealis]

Both work very well. I'm leaning towards the second one as it has a more subtle drama with, to me anyway, a more lively sky. Have you though about raising the values of the foreground fields just slightly (⅓ to ½ a stop)?

[leuallen]

Thanks Terry,

I have raised the foreground and it makes a difference.

Posted another which was shot slightly earlier. Dramatic difference in the sky. Color sure changes quickly at that time of day. Shoot lots and pick latter.

Larry

[Jeremy Roussak]

I think I prefer the second, overall. You could perhaps have done an interesting study of the two trees on the right at the time of the first shot, though.

Jeremy

[Walt Roycraft]

Larry, Are you shooting auto WB? Wondering if the colors changed that much or was it the WB?

[leuallen]

Walt,

Shooting Auto White Balance. I may have warmed up the last photo and cooled the first two a bit, don't remember. If I change color balance it is generally in the direction the original color balance exhibits. Hence, the last photo was definitely warmer than the first two. Note that the sun is just at the horizon and a lot happens in a few minutes there. 

This summer I shot a series of sunsets taken from the same spot over a small lake on whatever day a sunset sunset occurred. I shot from when the sun was a little above the horizon until it was gone. I noted quite a bit of color variation.

kikashi

Yes I should work those trees. They are quite interesting. The old milk barn keeps calling me so I have not done it yet. I will put it on my to do list when there is good light and warm enough (I hate the cold).

Larry

[Larry Heath]

I like the first best. The sense of space is just right and just enough warmth on the buildings. The second is too cold overall no warm/cold contrast. The third is just too warm overall.

The only thing in the first that I think that I would try to do is tone down the magenta in the cloud layer.

Great photograph anyway you look at it.

Later Larry

[robertvine]

Very nice! Looks like a very cold desolate place so I'm leaning towards the second one here as the warm colour on the buildings doesn't complete the feeling of cold.

[francois]

I like the first and second shots. There's a sense of coldness and isolation that I like very much.

[Larry Heath]

I’ve been thinking on these shots for a few days now and I like the first best.

Somehow I like the sense of space in the first better, seems as if the perspective has changed subtly from the first to the second and third. The foreground is more prominent in the second and the light is just not as attractive to me, seems a bit cold and sterile. The third has just too much going on in the foreground and is too warm in general. Not that it isn’t a great shot, it’s just as a progression from the first that it doesn’t work as well as an attempted improvement to the first.
 
Put it this way, I’d put the first up on a wall and be quite happy to view it daily, that second two not so much.

[AFairley]

I like the second best.  The first is a little "obvious" to me.  The second has a real mood to it.

[Rajan Parrikar]

Both are wonderful, but I'll take the first.

[leuallen]

Here is what I decided. I picked this one. It is a little wider view which I think suits the mood better and I have always preferred warmer images to cooler. I printed a 13x19 and went to the farmer's house - just out of view on the right. I found a very elderly couple, the husband was over 80. I gave them the image for which they were quite thankful. I found out some history. Next to the two trees in the middle, there used to be a farmhouse which burned. That fire gave the pine tree its unusual shape. The tree on the right was felled by the tornado weather that Illinois experienced last month.

Of more interest to me was that they had a daughter in the armed forces who traveled all over the world. Each country or region she was in she sent ethnic hat back to her father. He had quite a collection and was very proud of them. When the weather is warmer I intend to photograph them in each of the hats and print up a collage for them and their daughter. It should be a fun project , a relief from trying to find something interesting around here to photograph.

Larry