I would have preferred to have the cross as a silhouette, which would have made for a more dramatic background. The lighting setup I have pretty much throws light everywhere, so the cross ended up being nicely lit. Since the cross doesn't look that good (two 1'x4's screwed together), I decided to overexpose it to try and get the details to wash out. Still need more practice with lighting...this is basically my first attempt at using a couple of lights to try and create a particular effect.

 

That hotspot kills it for me.

Good concept though and the focus is spot on.

 

definitely. the hot spot totally kills it and is really distracting. try to get more contrast

 

I'd still like to backlight the scene...maybe I'll try moving the light so it's not in the shot to eliminate the hot spot.