Feedback was generally positive, people seemed most happy with the fact that I chose components that complemented each other well enough colour and lighting-wise to give an adequately seamless impression. I was pleased to hear my professor Linda note that the stairwell leading downward did a particularly good job of opening up the world of the image to the imagination.
The main problem most people had with this image was the part that I'd been struggling to resolve from the beginning, the top-right hand portion showing the structures and land below. The difficulty of finding an adequate image to suit the extreme downward angle combined with impressive height was something I didn't manage to overcome. Instead I copped out and went with some strangely scaled trees and a rooftop of dubious perspective. In the end it just kind of compromises the integrity of the whole rest of the image.
To rectify this, I realized it would be a good idea to model the scene in 3D, which was my original plan anyway. I gave Google Sketchup a try, and after some initial hiccups I was able to get into it and model the space as well as the larger area I have in mind for the setting as a whole.
I quickly took to Sketchup since it would allow me to not have to worry so much about scale and perspective; I could use it to correct what I already had going and also to find perspectives from which to create new images, simply by moving through 3D space. Problem with that was I spent too much time in the program without making progress in Photoshop, which left me at a disadvantageous position leading up to the second crit last week Thursday (October 27). But more on that later. Here's where I'm at with the image at the moment:
More stuff going up shortly.