Sometimes I stand on the roof of my jeep to get a better perspective. Not sure that it would help see over the bush. I do like it. I think the steeple does not stand out against the dark sky very well. If there was more contrast there, the steeple might pull the viewers attention away from the bush. The roof and the windows are quite unique and I think you would do well to showcase them by using your light more effectively. This church has so much unique detail. There are more photos here.

I was going to say what Country's Mama said.

Thank you for your kind gesture, John. I will download before deleting it from the page as edits aren't allowed in the Photo Critique Section.

I like the puppy pic very much.

Thank you for the kind comments, Kevin. I am scared to death of alligators and would have been shaking in my waders. LOL If it makes you feel better, I am always this picky and even moreso with my own. But, I have some on 500px with which I have ignored major defects for emotional attachment reasons.

Yes. You are spot on. I don't have a flash stand so I had to find a place to put it. I was quite disappointed by the shadows, but had a horrible time correcting for them. The color was off om my correction attempts. I did do quite well with the red skin on the ears and nose of the male. I opened my info window in Photoshop and moused over the skin that was not red near the ear. Wrote down the RGB numbers that showed up. Then I added a curves mask. Click option-shift on the red skin. Went into Red, Green, Blue channels and adjusted the output numbers to the ones I had recorded. Command-Control i for invert. White brush at 33% opacity to bring back the right skin color on ears and nose. Some areas needed more correction than others, so using less opacity worked well. However, I tried this with the shadows and I just couldn't get the color right and I think it's because I needed an exposure adjustment as well and it was too hard trying to get the right combo of color and exposure. Does that make sense?

Thank you for looking more closely, Jim, and thank you for the kind comments,

That always happens to me here. I thought that the moment I posted it and I am so glad you said it. Now I know I'm not just going crazy. Same pic from same computer.

I think the thing that kills this shot for me is the lighting. The alligator's face in in shadow and the cheek and teeth are in bright dappled light. The alligator is an animal that has a ton of detail in it's skin. Softer light would have let the detail shine instead of being lost to shadows. Also, the alligator as a whole looks like it's been pasted onto the background because there's such a sharp line between background and subject. If you are trying to direct the eye to the teeth, then you should have filled your frame with them and have gotten every gruesome detail.

I see what you were going for. I understand the desire to include the interesting fence, but it distracts from your subject. The processing seems a little over done. Perhaps this place requires a series of shots. One shot could be taken of the God Bless sign on the fence at a shallow DOF with church in background. Now some might say I am suggesting a shot, not critiquing. But no. I like the shot you took, but I think instead of trying to get it all into one shot, take multiple shots to tell the whole story. Just a thought.

I like the painterly feel of this subject. I like the warmth and the reflections. I wish that the main entrance wasn't creating a shadow and I wish the street light wasn't intersecting with the tree branches. I understand wanting to keep that wall.

Have you posted any photos you've taken with it yet?

I like this critique. It describes the impact perfectly.

Yes, the owl shot is beautiful. Very nice detail and that bokeh is lovely. I like the framing you used with the gloved hand. Very nice. Not much to complain about here. The little circle which is part of the bokeh does not bother me. I didn't even notice until I read a comment about it. I think I was too focused on that adorable owl face. Now if some distracting branches had been intruding into the frame, that would have bugged me.