Balloons Float Skyward, Survivor Outreach Services Family & MWR Command, 100724, originally uploaded by familymwr.

The splashes of color make a relaxing, random pattern across the sky, nicely contrasted against the weights of the clouds behind. The kids and volunteers on the ground work to draw the viewer into the photo; by happenstance the red in the T-shirts goes with the red of the balloons, adding to the pattern. A scene of beauty, well captured and exposed.

On Saturday at the 2010 TAPS Fort Hood Military Survivor Seminar and Good Grief Camp, the children of survivors and their Soldier-Mentors walked out to a field to release balloons with messages to their loved ones lost. Family and MWR Command photo by Rob McIlvane.

BTW: Check the story in the photo description and the other photos from McIlvane’s shoot at the link.

A high official meets with Soldiers. It’s an extraordinary event in their lives, but it offers many cliche traps to avoid. The worst would be “The Man in the Middle,” a version of the Firing Squad in which everyone bunches together around the leader for a group portrait. Great for participants, but makes a pretty lousy news photo. Better to get out a long lens and zoom in on the reactions of one or two people, or on the emotions of the interaction between the official and the individual, if the personage gets close enough.
It takes a good eye to spot an extremely creative composition like this one – definitely front page material. It gives a sense of place, and of the importance of the individual photographed. The presence of cameras and the attentiveness of the Soldiers draw the focus to Secretary Gates. The weakness of the 3/4 rear view of Gates is overcome by the rest of the elements.

“U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates talks to soldiers deployed to field operating base Airborne in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan, after reenlisting eight soldiers, May 8, 2009. Secretary Gates visited Afghanistan and met with military and local leaders. DOD photo by Air Force Master Sgt. Jerry Morrison”

Whether you snicker or “aww” at this one depends on your level of cynicism. When you’ve done a hundred homecomings, it’s hard to stay alert for the unique moment. Great catch by Spc. Lewis.

“U.S. Army Spc. Leo Leroy gets a kiss from Regina Leroy and a bow-wow welcome from dogs Yoshi and Bruiser at a homecoming ceremony on Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 28, 2009. Leroy, assigned to E Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, returned after a year in Qayarrah in northern Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Sharla Lewis”

Is running a photo of a cute baby with an adorable expression a cliche? Yes. Could the lighting be better on the mother? Yes (a little). Could the crop be tighter? Yes. Would I run this picture, as-is, on the front page? Absolutely. It’s the grand opening of a child development center. What do you want – baby Maleah or a group shot at the ribbon cutting?
This picture really brings it home. Lighting and timing are perfect on the main subject.

‘Master Sergeant Adrienne Kelley drops off her daughter, Maleah, at the new child development center at Fort Stewart. Photo Credit: Jacquelene Elise Van Pool (USAG Fort Stewart).”

090915-F-1665S-068, originally uploaded by U.S. Department of Defense Current Photos.

A quick tip of the hat to A1C Seybert, who used manual exposure and ambient light (see Seybert’s response, below) to bring out the contours in this well-composed and well-exposed image.

U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joseph Caughron attaches a cap plug to an over wing fairing shut-off valve on a B-1B Lancer aircraft at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., Sept. 15, 2009. Caughron is an aircraft hydraulics technician assigned to the 28th Maintenance Squadron. (DoD photo by Airman 1st Class Joshua J. Seybert, U.S. Air Force/Released)

Good eye for opportunity and composition: See repetition in the tool kit and hatch? Interesting lighting — I assumed a camera-mounted flash from the relatively hard shadows, but the image information says otherwise: an existing light image at ISO 2000. Having an astoundingly advanced tool (a Nikon D3) doesn’t detract from the credit the photographer deserves for understanding what makes an interesting photo and a solid composition.

“U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Hanko, an aircraft fuels system mechanic with the 1st Special Operations Component Maintenance Squadron, installs fuel lines in the third dry bay of an AC-130U Spooky gunship at Hurlburt Field, Fla., March 4, 2009. (DoD photo by Senior Airman Julianne Showalter, U.S. Air Force/Released)”

Original at DoD Imagery