Oh, dear. I'm not connecting with the black and white. I don't know where to look.
I like the color better as I see a more accentuated diagonal line. I'm also not connecting with the lower left big rock in either version. In the color version, I like the additional interest of the light green moss from lower right to upper left.
I like other mono conversions you have done better. But that is totally subjective.   Posted: 11/15/2024 16:55:43

I agree with Becca on this one, perhaps because there is so many similar tones in the mid range. The diagonal is seen OK since it is the darkest area but not enough to carry the photo. The old tree is interesting but not a lot of impact or a strong composition.   Posted: 11/18/2024 15:27:38

Wonderful tree. I would start over with processing - maybe mask the tree and blur the background? Then work on layers of foreground and the tree to make it higher contrast. I will try to present an example.
  Posted: 11/19/2024 19:56:50

  Posted: 11/19/2024 20:32:22

  Posted: 11/19/2024 20:32:53

Ok, what I did here was a quick and dirty version. I took it into Lightroom, masked the tree, and blurred the background. Then in Photoshop, I created a dodge and burn layer, used the black brush at 20% and darkened the lower part of the branches of the twisted tree. I used the remove tool to take out the newer straight trees behind the twisted one. Back to dodge and burn, I increased the size of the brush, and at 30% on white highlighted the foreground ferns. I think if you spent more time than 20 minutes on this you can get a really cool tree photo.   Posted: 11/19/2024 20:35:56