Great work, and so right for the contest. showing wonderful improvement. Getting the same insect and angle is fantastic, top marks

At first I thought you just took the original picture and re-finished it. Great job! (lenses make all the difference, don't they?)

Wow, what a difference between the two! The detail is stunning. Well done!

awesome - well done author

Fantastic work author! But I am not surprised!!

Thank you everyone! It is kinda weird to see such similarities in the two but I promise you one lives in the ghetto and one lives on the golf course. LOL The ghetto one is probably dead by now though .

Good to hear you moved out of the ghetto and live close by the golf course now author

Great improvement, really excellent example of what this contest is about!

wowzers, that really is improvement!

very nice photo

Congrats Amanda wonderful shot

congrats well deserved, amazing improvement

Very dramatic improvement.

Nice improvement, although I'd say it is oversaturated on the bright green - yellow part (which actually gives away it is an HDR shot). If you could lower the saturation a bit it would improve the image more IMHO (but that's my opinion, feel free to disagree )

I have reduced the green/yellow saturation as suggested

Just beautiful, nice improvement.

Great improvement, not just due to HDR but mainly because of the change of light. In the first image light was shallow, second image has much more depth.

Nice improvement -- nice restained use of HDR

Lots of ground cover lost. Are you in a drought? Really nice color range, good photo.

Second picture was taken in March this year so less foliage around..

Nice work

yes, very nice work, one can tell that the season is a different one. I like the second image much better, great improvment.

Think everything is better on this -- lighting, composition and focus == well done

Much more dynamic now!

It's a great improvement, the light, the background...
Just the angle change I do not really like. But that could be my western look.

Let me explain:
I'm from Europe and used to read from left to right and that's how I learned to 'read' a photo (matter of fact any image) too. Due to the change in the angle the hands (a focal point in this photo) are closed to me, in your original photo they are open and therefor, to me, a much more friendlier angle to look at.

Rob, that's a really interesting point of view, something I haven't considered, but will keep it in mind from now on and see how I actually look at a photo. Thanks.

Much nicer. Great job. Interesting perspective, Rob. But... the new way the face is also facing us more, becoming more "open" and inclusive (nonverbally)

I also like the new angle better, because it makes the visual movement much more fluid, where in the first image, it was somewhat "jerky," with the eye stopping at every angle of the elbows and knees. I also did not like the profile view of the head. The new angle provides a much more complete view of the face, as well as the drum, and the angles of the joints just "flow" better...

great improvement, the second image is great!

Much better angle, changes the composition completely!

I like the one on the left better.

Nice images for sure, but I'm with MnMCarta. The left one shows more how amazingly big the building (or object) is. Good luck!

I think they're both nice, but I'm not sure if there is "improvement" or not