Waiting

Comments greatly appreciated.

I like the composition, the starkness. I also like the two-level contrast -- white/gray sky enveloping the dark, stripped tree branches and grassy foreground. I couldn't help but wonder what the figures were on either side of the bottom of the tree trunk, by the ground, and got to further wondering if that was the intent. Also ... is this the original image, i.e., no photoshop work? It comes off almost as a backlighting/silhouette thing, but since you can make out some detail in the grass in the foreground, I don't think it was.

I suppose it depends what you mean by "Photoshop work". According to the photo.net definition of "unmanipulated", this is unmanipulated. During the conversion from RAW, I stepped the exposure down a couple of stops, and I chose a conversion to B&W that retained detail in the clouds, which also happened to retain detail in the grass. It would look better if the grass detail were burned out, but I was interested in getting reactions to this version.

 

The figures at the base of the tree are cows. I thought there was enough detail in the silhouette to make that out, but apparently not.

Thanks for the explanation. I think if I would have use the enlargement option, I would have been able to make out the cows. I didn't think of doing that until after I'd sent my remarks. It seems so many people on PN upload already-resized/reduced copies of their images that, when I pulled up this one, I just didn't think to look for it. But I do think the effect you went for is interesting. It certainly creates a mood. And the crop is very good to effect it.