Hi Andrew, greetings from the Critique Club!
First of all, congrats on your new Personal Best :) You're reaching that 6 in no time :)
Composition
For the subject you chose the composition is well balanced. You managed to handle distortion quite well, the shot is very balanced.
The three at the left does seem a bit distracting, but not too much.
Technique
The HDR is well done, but the right side is a bit dark, you could have brightened it a bit.
Also, the high ISO and the small aperture of f/22 really led to some loss of detail on your photo.
Processing
The alignment of both pictures is very good, but it's noticeable in the brickwork that some artefacts are happening, so it was either the compression, or the lining up, but nothing too serious (but still must have been noticeable to some voters).
Overall
A very nice idea to mix both pictures, and next time just try to get some low ISO and medium apertures. If you have a tripod, sacrifice aperture and ISO flexibility for longer exposure times.
Still, you've gone up from your previous scores, and in a Free Study, so it's no small matter.
Congratulations!
If you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Joao |