I think you did well with the light at hand. I love the color and glow in the background trees. Based on your chosen composition, these particular trees appear to be the subject. Therefore, they should be more in focus, I get a sense that that the focus is a bit off, but this may be a consequence of the snow. I suspect that that this was taken hand held given the aperture of f/4.5 at ISO 100 and shutter of 1/320. A tripod would help tremendously if it was not used. Detail in your chosen subject may be enhanced by a smaller aperture and greater depth of field. I happen to like the composition as you have chosen with the exception of a slight tilt down towards the right. The color in the sky is subtle but effective; I really like the sky in this image.
With respect to the challenge, I believe you shot yourself in the foot with the title! The title confessed that this was not a sunset or sunrise. Furthermore, IMO, the expectation was for a photograph that directly involved a sunrise or sunset. This definitely affected your score, and is reflected in the in-voting comments. Without the title, it may have finished higher.
Thanks for your votes. This is sunset, because the sun was very close to the horizon and this was my only chance to take picture of a sunset or sunrise, since I am always at work at sun- rise and sunset, it is more than 10 am and before 14 pm.
I guess the sun breaking out would be a sunrise of sorts. Or you are near the pole. I would not have know this was midday if you had not said so. I'm curious of why you thought to alert the voter to what will surely be perceived as DNMC. There's someting I'm not getting, but I do like the way the sun is striking these trees.
It was a sunrise or sunset image we were supposed to shoot, so a midday shot isn't really what the challnege had in mind...I like the light in this however
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