It’s been quite a benign winter in Yosemite, with very few storms or dynamic weather/light. Nonetheless, there are always interesting intimate scenes to photograph like this cottonwood in the shade, waiting for spring to burst forth into a riot of color.
Canon 5d markii, Canon 7-200 f/4, 1/10 sec, f/11, iso 200
Welcome Robb!
With the color a future event, great idea to focus on the textures; the BW helps emphasize that nicely. I like the strong central trunk, and the complexity of the branching. You might play with adding a slight vignette, and see if it adds anything or not.
Hey Robb, welcome aboard. It has been a while since we chatted along the Merced and on Sentinel dome, if memory serves (which it rarely does). I am liking this image and the strong graphics it presents. I might burn the upper branch on the left that goes up a 45 degree angle, but not a huge deal. I am quite enjoying this one.
Welcome to NPN Robb, thank you for sharing this image with us. It looks like you had success with making lemonade out of lemons here. This tree translates very well to a B&W treatment, I like the tonality you used here . The repeating pattern of the main branches goes a long way to organize the chaos and complexity of the small branches.
My only suggestions to tweak this would be to add a stronger vignette around the frame edges, and to burn down both of the 45 degree branches in the upper left corner. , to help focus more attention on the center of the tree. But those are nitpicks, overall this is a very fine image 
Welcome to NPN, Robb! The B&W conversion works really well here. I am thoroughly enjoying the range of tones in this scene as well as the textures and details with show up in the large version. My only suggestion would be the already mentioned vignette. I hope to see more of your images and comments on others. Good eye to isolate this scene.
Thanks John. There is a slight vignette but making it a bit stronger is a good call and an improvement, thanks.
Thanks Harley. Yes, that was me, you have an outstanding memory, that was quite a while ago. Hope we run into each other again. That’s a good call on this image, that one branch is a little more powerful than it needs to be. Thanks for the thought.
Thanks for the thoughts @Ed_McGuirk. A stronger vignette and toning those branches down a bit are improvements.
Thanks @Ed_Lowe. A more noticeable vignette seems to be the consensus. I’ll be trying to make a little more of a presence on NPN by posting and commenting.
Welcome to NPN, Robb. The strong contrast does a great job of focusing attention on the shape of the tree. I like the edge-to-edge brightness of the branches.
Welcome to NPN Robb. This is a stunning B&W abstract. Wonderful contrast and detail.
Welcome, Rob! We met at Mountain Sage several years ago and talked for a while. Nice to see you here!
This is a lovely cottonwood. It reminds me strongly of some Sexton’s tree images. I really enjoy the implied movement of the branches, and the tonality works very well. I do agree with the previous suggestions.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work!
-P
Love this image, Rob. It is the quintessence of fractal unfolding. The symmetry is exquisite but, as is the nature of fractal geometry, not perfect but perfectly balanced. The textures are marvellous and black and white is exactly right for this image. Print it!!
Nice texture and detail! Although, I don’t always preach perfection in an image, maybe rotate the scene to get the tree more vertical? Believe it, it is nice the way it is, but you could try this to see if you like it.
Thanks @Mark_Seaver and @Eva_McDermott for the comments.
Yes, @Preston_Birdwell, I remember our meeting and conversation well. Let me know if you make your way back through Groveland, I’d love to have another catch up session at Mtn Sage. I’ll happily take any mention of Sexton regarding an image, thanks!
Thanks @Kerry_Gordon, I’m definitely attracted to fractal"ly" scenes and I like your description. And, yes, I have made a couple prints to add to our gallery.
Yes, @Ken_Henke, I could see a slight rotation to make it perfectly vertical. I’ll play around with that, thanks.
