Agreed that the colour is stronger. I like the composition here, especially the space you've given the sky and the distribution of the elements throughout. The thin reflections off the tops of the bales really makes it also

Thats a very steep curve David

Its not just a numbers game though, there are other things to weigh up. I've been registered on the 'big' US forum for as long as I have here, and have joined in a fair number of discussions 'over there' - but there a downside is a community that is so large. I have not been able to develop any sense of belonging there, no feel for the characters and personalities, simply because there's too many of them.

The opposite applies here where there's quite a good number of regular posters so you get a 'feel' for them, not too few & not too many - yes we could do with a few more of course.

On a more practical aspect, this site does seem to have fewer technical features, less categories and sub-divisions - but I have found that it is easier to negotiate for that and I can easily jump in to the most recent activity or find earlier things through my portfolio page. Also I think the physical presentation of the forum pages here is much better ... it is much easier to see posts divided up with avatars clearly, and the quotes are nicely boxed and differentiated to the replies - on other forums it is a confusing jumble of text, some bigger some smaller, dividing lines and massive spaces of nothing before you see an avatar - you spend more time scrolling through large threads than reading anything!

And just because there are loads more members and so many more threads doesn't actually add up to more useful activity necessarily - there are loads of threads which fizzle out with just 1 or 2 replies, I can only assume because people just don't get to them.

I'm just saying this because all this practical side to it adds up to a better experience overall - you have to be able to jump in easily and pick up quickly where you left off - in and out through the day - for it to work well, and that's a strength of PU I have found, and a big reason for sticking with it. The main thing is the community and people of course, but they have to be easily accessable to make it enjoyable and practical.

At the other extreme there are the very small forums - there's one that's been opening its arms recently - where is it, somewhere in Europe .... not to deride the good input of our own cross-party members there, but having taken a look, ..., well, not much going on in Europe

Fletcher, thanks for you earlier post answering my earlier question! I'm sorry, I missed it originally but appreciate the positive view on the Cactus flashgun.

My interest now is in considering good rule-of-thumb techniques for manual flash exposure on Pentax cameras - Class A above there has mentioned some he is developing already.

The good advice has clearly paid off David - full marks to you for pulling yourself along the curve! Big bug heads are not my thing, but I sure can appreciate the technique and patience required to get these things sharp & in focus.

I like it very much, it has a lot to draw the eye in and to explore, and the undulations in the lighting levels across the ground add to the depth of it - very well taken image!

I've got a few C & C's - firstly with framing there's 2 ideas I'd try out just to see if it improves it ... 1) make it more pano by chopping the top off a bit, less sky ... or 2) crop the right side and bottom a bit to make it more square.

There's some untidy smudging near the horizon line which looks as if you have been doing some editing there already, but probably the blend at the horizon needs to be firmed up. The blue haze, whilst common on this type of shot, is a rather foreign colour here, so I would suggest a saturation adjustment layer, whack down the blue / cyan channels (pull luminance up a bit to restore the brightness), then use masking to limit the adjustment to the horizon and far foreground area. This will give you more consistent colour right to the horizon. And while you're at that, I'd use the mask to pull some of the blue tone out of the cloud shadows.

And finally I think the clouds are too contrasty with rather dark shadows - I'd suggest a levels adjustment layer, pull up the shadows and midtone inputs a bit while reducing the highlight output as well to prevent clipping the whites - then mask to restrict it to the sky only.

Just some ideas, what I would naturally do if it were mine - be interesting to see if it helps

Some great viewpoints and compositions there Tom, all very creative. The strongest is No 2 with fantastic foreground which is actually lit ... I'd crop some from the bottom though, and perhaps a little from the top of the sky as well.

As always from you the skies are beautiful and take such importance. Unfortunately some of the foregrounds suffer from having no light at all to speak of, maybe it was too early? The ones with the flowers are beautifully laid out but N0 5 is spoilt by the movement blur - did you by any chance get one with a faster speed or less wind?

You did very well shooting so low down on the building shots, and I like the metering which has given exposures slightly under centre which deepens the colours and helps the reflections. The first shot from the train window is great

I'd try and pull down the white cloud highlights in No5, as the brightness level here distracts and is out of character with the others.

I read an article recently which compared todays technology with what was available to bird photographers back in the 70's & 80's, where generally they'd have to accept much slower shutter speeds than ideal , so not many freeze-frame pin sharp images like we see regularly now.

The author showed some shots that were published on the front cover of magazines in the 80's that now , on here, would be written off for softness and grain - poor technique even. It shows how far technology has come.

Even I don't find the colour noise on these shots an issue, I'm sure a bit of colour channel work pulling down the green or blue or even just some de-saturation with the sponge would sort easily.

The pose is natural but the harsh sunlight spoils it I'm afraid, the skin is rather glaring which detracts from the eyes.