Its a wonderful image whichever way you present it - but I must vote for No. 2, the full fat colour version. Until Womble mentioned it I hadn't noticed the orange bouy right on the edge of the frame. But he's right, torpedo it.
David

Lovely set of images from a lovely part of Scotland. I particularly liked the symetrical presentation you made of the chapel - and I think the new paint gives it a lot of appeal.

I'm a PPG virgin because I never got round to submitting anything, I can't face the prospect of rejection.
But I have nothing but admiration for the work of you guys who get regular acceptances. Tim, congrats on your first century.
David

I use one a lot, for portraits, street photography, architecture abstracts etc. Its super sharp, real quality. Sometimes it's not so quick off the mark when snapping a moving subject with the camera in 'drive' mode. Then I use a Pentax FA70-200mm lens from my film camera days which seems to lock on focus more swiftly. But that isn't as aperture-fast, f5.6 at 200mm as opposed to f2.8 at 135mm on the DA*
David

You're correct Ralf and I'm glad that I'm not the only one who has the problem of seeing better pictures after I've entered the competition. (Note to self, must take more care with my spelling).
David

To answer your questions Doug: Yes, these were all handheld. I'm well known for my aversion to being weighed down by a tripod. If the light is good outside you can use a reasonably high shutter speed for this type of picture. The picture of the Chagal window in Canterbury Cathedral was taken on a K10 and a DA*16-50mm lens. For the windows in Newcastle Cathedral I used a K10 with DA*50-135mm lens.
David

Is this a case of de ja vue all over again Tim?
David

Thanks guys for the comments. Doug, The slight widening towards the bottom of the frame is because you have to point your camera upwards to get stained glass windows and there is only so much compensation you can do in PS without distorting the image even more. At least with my limited PS skills that is.
One of the secrets with this type of photography is to get bright sunlight back lighting the glass and to under expose by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop so you don't blow the highlights.
The the second one from Newcastle Cathedral appealed to me - St Geordie slaying the dragon.
David

Excellent detail. The sliver of leaf in No.1 didn't worry me, its all part of the environment and I didn't think it intruded much. Like Mike-P I prefer the processing in No. 1, the modified version seems a tad overdone.

I visited the East Neuk of Fife a couple of years ago. The historic harbourside buildings in all the villages mentioned by Gartmore are very good photo locations.
David