Where's the church? Here's the steeple...
by mexico

Comment by ankit0621:
nice

Where's the church? Here's the steeple...
by mexico

Comment by smali:
it would have naled that picture if you had a fill-in flash.
to underlighted

Bishop Hooper's Monument
by mexico

Comment by mexico:
Thanks for the comments. To answer some of your queries. This picture is taken using the spotlights that illuminate the monument. Unfortunately it is rather harsh in certain areas and less so in others making it difficult to get a good, even exposure. With regard to the composition, I did try and get some branches into the shot by moving around to the right, but they don't show up too well. I now wish I had taken from some more angles, but took most shots from a similar angle, just playing with exposure.

The monument is in a street near Gloucester Cathedral marking the spot where the poor bishop was toasted!

A Bunch of Five(s)
by mexico

Comment by Art Roflmao:
Some honest feedback with standard (my opinion) disclamier:
Lighting is harsh, bad shadowing, crop is way too tight, but focus is good. Generally nothing interesting about this shot to me. It is like you are shoving a 5-pack of bananas right up in my face.

Although the topic is simplistic, these challenges tend to be very tough to shoot for.

Hope this was helpful.

A Bunch of Five(s)
by mexico

Comment by Brin:
The light is too harsh and I don't like the background, but I like the angle. Nice shot!

Bishop Hooper's Monument
by mexico

Comment by AChelton:
I wish the yellow tone at the top could have continued down, but still very nice.

Brothers!!!
by mexico

Comment by mexico:
Thanks for all the comments!

This was a snapshot of my daughter having just had a "disagreement" with her brother. She came over to the picnic table and sat down opposite me looking like the photo. My camera was on the table and I just picked up and took the picture. It was one of those moments when the brain says "DPC...MOODS". I did not check settings and just fired a shot off, hence the rather uninspiring background. I would have done some work on the background, but I did not want to lose the blowing hair and, not yet being good enough with PS, left it as it was. If we had sat the other way around, a glorious view across the estuary of the River Severn would have been behind her. That's just the luck of the draw though, isn't it!

Thanks for the various ideas regarding the background and burning it in, blurring it etc. I havent' played with it yet, but will do.

Brothers!!!
by mexico

Comment by The Eskimo:
Good photo, pretty subject obviously thinking hard. Brothers is probably it. Very good for moods and portrait also.

Brothers!!!
by mexico

Comment by metoecus:
The background is quite distracting, particularly the bright blue thing that leads me to look outside the frame. With a shallower DOF this would have been a better image.

A Bunch of Five(s)
by mexico

Comment by dafragsta:
Excellent colors in this one. The composition is OK. It almost look slike a flash was used. It would've been cool to see more of the natural texture of those tips of the banana.