Pondering

Looks great but the pole(?) in the center of the image is very distracting.

Otherwise, it looks great.

Very nice exposure. Was it auto-exposure or manual?
There is nice detail in both the dark sweater and the clouds. Very hard to do in sunlit areas normally.

The red filter really whitened the skin tones, id say too much. But luckily the shadows gave some definition, and the dark rimmed glasses framed the eyes nicely.

As said above, the fence/pole is not placed well for the composition.

The exposure was manual -- the Fuji has a basic meter that indicates under or over-exposure but it doesn't do TTL metering, so I took a reading then opened up 2 stops to allow for the filter.

You're right about the fence post, it IS distracting.

gees you had me nervous...I didn't know what that was! ..a pole eh?

It's part of an old fashioned 'stile' - the pole to act as a hand-rest when climbing over the fence into/out of the field.

It's taken in an area of Oxfordshire where they train race horses - lots of winding paths in and out of the fields with places to climb over fences.

Detail in the face(eyes) and jumper is superb. IMHO a red filter gives a good rendition of a lady's face. Only males and fields should be weatherbeaten and furrowed. Pity the post blends in with the field. If it was clearer and maybe a little more of it shown, it would fit nicely in with the subject's pensive look.

I'd say you have a promising future as a printer

I love the idea here. I hope you take another stab at it. The pole where it is, is distracting but surreal at the same time. Better use of it may add to the image. The sky and the light are stunning. Well seen. My only real complaint is the branches top right.
I hope you return to this spot with this person and goof around some more. It is definatley worth it!

I took two shots, I'll post the other to the Normal gallery tomorrow if I get a chance. It's a slightly different angle and may address the problem with the pole..

Thanks for the nice comments.

other image now posted to the normal gallery. Thanks

Wow.