sheard steps

This caught my eye!
Only thing I can say is that maybe the top 1" and left corner could be burned down a little.
Nice angle on an autumn shot in monochrome!
Good.

Nice job, Bethe.The light on those leaves is gorgeous, and they have a nice "glow" about them that I'm sure is waaaay nicer in person. Similar comment as above, I might play around with cropping the very top to clean up a bit of the visual clutter which is competing with your great leaves.

I like this one a lot, but agree wich both comments above. There is some room for improvement but only little tweaking in the darkroom is required. Great image otherwise. When do we get to see the improved version?

Thanks! Have to see when I get back to the darkroom. I agree about cropping - maybe just at the edge of the porch to get rid of the clutter above?
Someone (not on APUG) said they didn't like how the stairs had no place to go when cropped. Was that a valid comment? I can't decide.

Alternatively, try to burn the top clutter down (burn into the top stair). Then the stairs don't end at the edge of the print but fade into a darker, less prominent top. Just a thought. Don't forget to burn the top left as well. Play it through in Photoshop, and then take it into the darkroom.

I would certainly crop off the top part of the image, where the painted step ends, and the wooden deck starts. And, as Ralphs says, burn down the pickets on the top left just a touch so they don't compete with the leaves as much.

Regarding not having the stairs end, this will actually increase the size of the print, since in this case, less is more. The mind will let the stairs continue, lending a greater space to the image. The lighter tones at the top of the print compete with the stairs - if you crop off the top, your eye is immediately drawn to the primary focus (ha!) of the image - the stairs.

You do have a winner here, with a wee bit of darkroom magic!

Thanks all! Now I know what I'll be working on the next time I can hit the darkroom.