I wasn't really arguing that standards had fallen (I haven't been around the gallery long enough to know), more that is it very "samey".

That must be the smallest testudo I have seen. I cannot imagine the barbarians quaking in their boots as eight guys lumber towards them!

Some lovely shots though, nicely done.

K.

Personally I prefer the first one as the main flower gives the eye something to rest on. Imagine what the countryside must have looked like before herbicides.

Best wishes, Kris.

Thanks to everyone that commented, quite a variety of different opinions and reworkings on the same image. When I have a moment to spare ( ) I'll return to it and rework it. I liked Mike's version of it, and one or two others. I feel the original does need some cropping, perhaps not as severe as the original crop. The jury is is still out, I feel, on the various colour/monochrome/toning options although I do now feel my original was too artificial.

The most interesting part to my mind was the variation on whether there was a strong enough subject or the image being too cluttered. Personally, I find myself returning to look at this image quite often, my eye picking up on new details, spotting new aspects of it. I will almost certainly have a version of this printed large when I finally have one I am happy with. It is clearly a "marmite" image.

As to lens choice, the slightly longer lens was chosen to get the window in a window effect. A shorter lens lost this. Also, the terrain rather limited options in terms of position etc.

Tim's comment regarding the PPG interested me most. When I first joined I was wowed by many lovely images. A year later I find myself largely bored by those images that get in (and very bored by my images that have been accepted). Yet another sunset, yet another bird photo, yet another flower... There seems to be virtually no street photos, no urban decay, no photojournalism... In short, nothing challenging, everything nice and twee. For example, my portfolio consists of five sunrises/sunsets, three pcitures of/in churches, three pictures of trees and two others. Am I being too harsh?

Cheers, Kris.

You'll get much better BW images shooting in colour and converting in PP.

Best wishes, Kris

He'll have Peter's SMC 500mm...

K.

I, personally, am finding this thread really interesting but will refrain from commenting for a little while yet. I hope everyone agrees it is a useful/interesting thing to do and someone will volunteer another image sometime next week.

Perhaps we could have the general guidelines as a sticky?

Best wishes, Kris.

Great price for great camera. Someone snap it up quick.

No, I don't think a wider angle lens would help. That would give you greater depth of field whereas the shallow depth of field is what gives the image a more 3D feel and greater interest.

The alternative shot you posted is better, but I think I still prefer the square crop of the first. But then I am a sucker for square images. I must dust off my Yashica...

Best wishes, Kris.

The last three have a very "Lomo" feel to them, and they do remind me of faded photos from my childhood!

K.