Photography is about LIGHT and COMPOSITION. Failing to use these elements in a photograph just leads to a boring image. For me far too many people think the clouds and sky will carry the image and, in my experience, this is most rare. Set the scene, tell the story and you get a far better image. I offer two examples below.

The first was captured in the everglades of Florida and required me wading through muck and water to get to the right composition. The photo started with the reflection of the pines on the still water complimented by the dark trees against the neutral sky. I knew the sun would shine through the thin trees and add some color--but this was about the composition more than the sunset. while the horizon is fairly centered (bad use of the rule of thirds) the offset, eye catching ball of the sun honors the rule of thirds. The slight ripples in the water add a bit of motion to the image. Over all, I think it works--strong composition, with color accent.

The second photo was also about composition. I used the natural vignetting effect of the mountain ridges to focus the viewer's eye toward the multi layers of forest. Rather than focus on the setting sun, I was concerned about the light that fell on the layers of the forest. I wanted to draw the viewer into the forest. I waited for the sun to be hidden behind the clouds to get the glow effect. The image was about the forest, the sunset was a compliment. My idea is always to focus on the composition, if that is strong, even a soft pale sunset will provide a strong image.

Comments and discussion on these images and my thoughts are most welcome.

Larry

It's time to do another installment on Composition!
So lets have a meaningful and productive discussion about what makes a good Sunset/Sunrise image. We see a lot of these here every day, and rightfully so, as we have an opportunity for one of each, each and every day.
But first, if you have not already done so, DO go back and read my previous posts on Composition. This discussion will feed off of those and may help explain where I and possibly some of the others in this discussion are coming from! For me the goal is always not just photography but making the best images we can possibly make with the skill-set we poses and improving that skill-set. As with my previous posts, for me, juxtaposition always plays an important element in my images. My personal feeling is that strong color alone is just not enough. My goal is to create a stronger image by incorporating other elements into the composition that help to strengthen a story that colors alone can't tell and assembling those into a more complex composition. That's not to say that a simple strong graphic image can't work just as well. Again, there are no rights or wrongs here.
The hope as always is that we share what we feel are good strong elements and images so that one can takeaway ideas from another's compositional talents that will help them to take better and more impactful images of their own.
Feel free to post an image and explain why you feel it is a strong sunset/sunrise image.
I will post one of each in an adjacent post so that this won't be moved to the gallery.
This is meant to be a learning discussion for all of us that participate.
Blue Hour may also be appropriate in this discussion as well
Thanks, ;-)
SS

As much as I love a beautiful sunrise or sunset, i seldom take a photo of the event per se. I do like to take photos of other things or places AT sunrise/sunset, but not just a colorful sky. I usually find most of the images that concentrate solely on the colors in the sky, or (and this is admittedly a very personal bias) which stress a silhouette against a colorful sky, to be very uninteresting compositions. Instead, I prefer compositions that make use of the color of the light at that time to add an element of interest to a composition that I would take at any other time of the day. If the composition would not stand as strong without sunrise/sunset light, then it doesn't become a good composition by simply adding some sunrise/sunset colors, or by using a silhouette.

This images is typical of how I might approach a sunrise/sunset composition. The arrangement of the image's elements is the main emphasis, with the color of the setting sun adding the mood.