We all put high standards when it comes to skies. Since they can dominate so much of our photograph, they can carry a huge weight in our visual storytelling. So when the skies aren’t perfect, we get the wigglies framing up the shot. Now bald skies suck in my book. Total overcast aren’t much better but they are a tad. But when you get skies like these, what do you do? Do you go tight to just get the little slice of red, go real wide trying to minimize the mixed skies or go like I did, somewhere in between. Shooting the D750 / 24-70, as you can see I went in between but the question is why? I love falling back on those famous and wise words, Light, Gesture, Color, in times like this. The light is real sweet on the subject, the Monocoupe 110 Special. The gesture of the plane heading towards the dawn brings you in and takes the plane out. And the color, the top yellow ties in with the yellow on the plane and the red wraps both sides. Did I think all those elements through before taking the photo? I did in the old days when this question went through my mind. After thinking about it for a long, long time, it’s more second nature than a though process. But you’ve gotta do one before you can do the other. Before you pass on a photo because there appears to be a possible problem, thing and feel it through first. More than likely something inside you thought it was worth stopping. You just have to prove it to the camera.