Yours is a good point - looking back at the critique, that was not explicitly stated. I have inferred that that was behind the suggestion because the person in question raises the rule of thirds in a lot of her critiques of photos (often correctly). Maybe I was being too sensitive or over-interpreting her opinion :). In any event, I didn't mind the critique because she, and Mike Morrell, may well be right that a shift in angle might have improved the shot. Just interested in peoples' views as to how important, as a rule, it is, and whether I could have improved the angle on this shot (whether by applying the rule or not).