~xlnt visual impact from the subject mater and the vertic al presentation...one nit for me though, there seems to be a lack of any stark whites, a bit overwhleming on the greys and midtones...it's a personal thing, I/eye tend to take to b&w's with a range of dark black to stark white...~

good composition... the lower part of the image seems to be a little too dark for me. did you brightening the image a little bit and apply other color tones like sepia?
thanks for sharing...

regards,
kiran

Really nice composition and contrast. I like the little bit of cloud in the top there. Shooting RAW is a completely different experience then shooting straight to .jpg Gives you so much more range in how you can play with the shot. Looks like your first attempt at it went pretty well =)

i think it works well in b&w.. it highlights the tree's texture and form.. those spines are remarkable.

I like these kinds of shots. I take many myself. Bare trees have little to offer other than B&W.

This is why I love BW. This is so powerful and makes such a statement. Would love to see this in Hi-res.

I need to get a camera that will shoot in RAW. Geez I'm jonesing for a new cam. :(

This is awesome! the tones are so perfect and bold, and the whole tree looks so beautiful and prickly! I love how the whole shot is dark, including the sky.

This is beautiful. The black and white conversion is perfect. Great details and strong contrast... I love it!

excellent shot. this tree looks like a really uncomfortable one to climb.

I'm a sucker for great tree shots like this one.

I love the contrast and all the detail in this shot, really cool!

I like it a lot. The tree shapes really stand out from this dark deep sky. Happy to know you are experimenting with RAW: especially if you are using 16bpp RAW gives you a lot more freedom when you have to adjust contrast and luminosity...