Great shot, really catches the action, Wonderful focus on the guy, with the background all soft.

I'm impressed, well done

lovely photograph, but please upload a high res, so we can get a good luck.

nice and relaxing

definitely a nice place to chill out.

looks very peaceful, but can't tell the quality without a high res

This really tells a story,well done.

A beautiful photograph, but I would crop it below the yellow branch t the top. I'm not sure all this rushing water says relaxing to me.

Did you mean to put this here, or in the on a bench contest?

Don't' want to push a point, but 10 cm is 4 inches.

Very peaceful, and a beautiful photograph too.

This looks great, especially with the falling leaf, but you are never going to get top scores without a High Res so we can really see it.

You get much higher score if you publish a higher res image, assuming of course that it has got the quality.

Beautiful

Nice lines, but I wish you had been a little closer.

Too soft and contrasty for my liking.

What is the size of the boat?

Thanks, it's a great shot.

Your persistence paid off, a really interesting angle, well done.

Thanks, only a small change, but so much better, and well done for getting the photo. that statue is enormous.

" I hate cropping with a burning passion, and only do so to straighten a photo or to fix poor composition, otherwise I see cropping as a useless editing technique. "

That is your option, but if the theme is CLOSE-UP you will either have to overcome your aversion, or learn to get closer. Not all of us are clever enough to perfectly frame every photograph.

Much better, you now have an interesting photograph.

Looks amazing, how big is it? and how do you get such a small flame?

beautifully done.

Nice idea, but it doesn't quite work, highlights too blown and there seems to me some camera shake.

a beautiful landscape photograph

Nice composition and subject.

That is a tiny book, nice light and clarity, composition, could have been more interesting.

much more interesting.

Agree with all above, will hold my vote hoping that the horizon will be straightened.

If you lighten this, a lot, so the background is virtually white and we can see the details in roof, and then chop the image in half, you will have a far more interesting photograph, IMO.

The front figure is really beautiful, but the ones in the background is just a little too light and not soft enough to really fade into the background.

Very beautiful, something very Japanese about this one. Just a shame it's a little soft.

Nice

This is definitely an improvement.

Absolutely brilliant, and I can only think of 1 member who goes to this kind of trouble. well done.

Perhaps a little too big, but a really nice photograph.

very recognizable, well done.

Nice piece of ice, great lighting, but where is the liquid?

great idea, and lovely photo, shadows are perhaps a little on the dark side.

A beautiful capture, You might just have increased the contrast a little too much, and woudl crop a bit off the left so she isn't quite so centered.

Nice snapshot.

An intimate moment, beautifully captured. I would have cropped it a little closer, still leaving some of the silhouettes, but not as might. Mind you that is just my opinion and I always tend to crop pretty close.

The ruler certainly shows the size of the tower, but it really doesn't make for a good photograph. Try photographing the tower on it's own, with an interesting background and light. You can use this one as an SBS to prove the size.

Nice work, good angle, light and focus.

That's so much better.

definitely better but I think you could pull the blue back even further.

well done, this look so much better.

A high res would be really nice

You are of course right about the background, but the bell is nicely lit and in good focus. What bothers me more than the background is the placement of the bell.