Hi Steven,
Most of us know about the “KISS” principle – “Keep It Simple, Stupid”. That said, I think there are times when we can make a photograph too simple.
One simple measure of a photograph is how much time people spend looking at the image; if the photo gets just a moment's worth of attention then I would say it is not that strong. If people look at it for more than 10 seconds that's not too bad and if people want to take it home and put it on their wall and leave it there for a month or even a year then you are doing very well.
Now, with this image I am more than happy to give it a glance and move on. What is worth noting though, is that you can actually make this photo stronger; perhaps not now in post-production but maybe next time you are at an air show and get a chance to make try the idea again.
What would have made this image stronger is what I like to call “value added” photography – additional elements in the photo that can help create more of a story. What I would have preferred to see here is more depth-of-field, which you can get if you close down the aperture to f/22 or even f/32 (if it's an option). Then I would have liked to see someone climbing into the cockpit, or perhaps an aircraft flying past in the background, or even just a gloved hand stroking nose of the aircraft as if doing a pre-flight. Without those additional elements, all it is for the moment is just a big dot on a blue page.
As I often tell students, one of the challenges in photography is learning to capture someone’s eye – if you can do that, chances are they will spend a good 10 seconds or more looking at your photo. Once you have mastered that, the next challenge is learning how to capture someone’s heart.
When you can do that consistently, you will have become a good photographer.
Cheers,
Anthony