Very Nice. If you could get back in different light I'd experiment. The leaves seem to have an uncomfortable tone. Is the LH out of focus or is it my monitor? I'm at work) You need that area in focus. I'm nit-picking for sure. Very Strand-esque tonality and very nicely composed.
Thank you for the kind words.
The plane of focus is a little in front of the wood, so it's not critically sharp. And, as Drew says, the finish on the wood gives a sort of unfocused effect. I don't remember the particulars of the situation, but I think I had to do this one hand-held, so it's probably close to wide-open.
I'm curious what you mean by "an uncomfortable tone"?
It's certainly a subjective comment. I seem to want the leaves a little less "muddy" and lighter. Don't you like the tone of the 4th leaf down to the left from the top center? If the others were in and around that range, I think the photo would be amazing with this composition. You could lighten the whole print exposure to get the leaves, and then burn areas of the wood that you think are too light. I imagine the black would stay black, but make sure. If you have ever read any of Fred Picker's Zone VI newsletters, He wrote of this often-That there are simply some tones of grey that are not as appealing as others and I agree. He had a darkroom printing test where you made squares of Gray on photo paper using small increments of exposure. And when looking at the squares you could plainly see some grays are ugly. John Sexton has taken a lot of photographs of leaves, trees. If you can, take a look at one of his books for nice reference.
Subjective's good, I appreciate the feedback.
I'm still working on a "final" print of this one, this gives me some more things to consider in where I go with it. Thank you.