Hi Ian,
This photo looked great when I opened it up on my computer in Photoshop. The silhouettes are rich in detail and, combined with the fire, there is a good narrative to the photograph.
Now, that being said, there are two things that would improve this photo next time.
The first is the White Balance of the photograph. Most people have a habit of leaving the White Balance on their cameras set to Auto mode. Now while this is ok for the majority of photographs, there are times when the Auto White Balance can get the colour balance of the photograph wrong. This is one of those instances; as I look at the photo I get the feeling that the blue sky has some hints of green. If I was making the same photo I would make a point of setting the White Balance to the Daylight or the Cloudy setting… this will make the sky warmer and more realistic looking.
If you shot this photo in RAW mode then go back to the original file and adjust
the white balance… you should see a difference. The other option is just to
quietly adjust the colour balance of the photo in Photoshop.
Now, the second adjustment I would make is to the cropping. I would eliminate that stick in the left of the frame and bring the sky down so that the horizon line is on the third of the frame. It does not matter that you will crop the top of the tree… we know is a tree and it actually looks fuller when cropped.
Make both these adjustments and I think the photo will be a genuine keeper.
Cheers, Anthony
Image Doctor's edited version
