Heavy Liftingby
jbolingComment by stephan: Hi John, don't wonder why you get another critique this late but your photo was assigned to me in context of the Critique Club (maybe your read about that in the forum). So here it goes:
Composition: I like the framing by the tree and the roof on the left and on the bottom. Only this indicates that the helicopter is in a city. It would be better if the roof would have some chimneys or antennas because like it's now it's hard to recognise as a roof and is only a black bar. I think that's why some people suggested to crop it out.
The subject is placed according to the rule of thirds (intentionally or not) and I think it helped the photo because it makes the subject more dynamic and like it just flew into the frame.
Lighting: The backlighting of the sun creates a very magnificent light. But I think it's a bit too much and I would like a shorter exposure. The helicopter which is your actual subject (and not the sun) loses detail, e.g. the rope holding the cargo vanishes in the sky. Of course it would have been perfect if the sun was right behind the helicopter, but I guess it was not possible to tell the pilot to pose for you ;-)
Focus: The focus could be better. It seems that the tree has a better focus than the helicopter. It should be the other way around.
Art: In my opinion the photo fulfills the challenge. It documents an event altough not a very interesting or touching one and I don't think this would make it on the front cover. Backlighting always is a difficult thing in photography and altough it could be improved technically it's an extra point for the effort.