🚀 go-pugleaf

Nice sky, Fred! Too bad the (photo) stock market is dead - you could make some money off that image.

Linda-
Please take this in the spirt it's meant - constructive criticism.

I don't think the image works for one main reason - the subject (the cypress), is completely lost in the background. It's a green tree in front of other green trees and the tonal values all run together. (just look at the black and white version to see what I mean)

It would have helped if the cross light hitting the background were instead hitting your "friend" :) (and the background had the flat light), but that wasn't the case. Less depth of field could have helped too.

I assume you prefer the colorized version since that's the version you showed first? One of the likely reasons is because doing that helps to separate the tree from the background. But if you're honest with yourself, you'll see this is a case of relying on Photoshop to compensate for a less successful image. It's subjective of course, colorizing can work great in some cases, but here, it seems to be simply a crutch.

Ann's suggestion would help to separate your subject w/o resorting to (in my view), gimmicks.

However, I think you can do better - at the photography stage. Look for a different time of day, or better light that will help to separate the subject. This will sound strange, but squint your eyes when looking at the scene. If everything seems to run together, you'll end up with the same result.

-phil