Scroll 4 New Final? Redo of Doug Fir B/W

I like the textures in here a lot, Marylynne.  I think the depth of your blacks and whites are pretty appropriate (but I haven't done any significant B&W work myself).  I like the angles of the "mouse tails" , though I wish you had composed just a little differently to include the very tip of the lower right one.  I'd think this would definitely be worth including in a B&W portfolio.

Interesting close up study, Marylynne. Well seen for the pattern and detail  - just what B&W photography is about. I agree with Dennis about the missing/cropped tip of that thorn or whatever it is. I think I would also crop the left to about where the center thorn tip ends (i.e., to exclude the base of the cut-off structure on the left). 

Thanks Dennis and Scott.  Here is another version, with a square crop.  I have mixed feelings about it.  The square crop makes it more static, but it gives the seeds (that's what the little mouse tails are) their requisite space from the edge of the frame.  This was also processed a little differently: BW entirely in LR rather than in Nik.  The first one was processed using the color efex bleach bypass filter first, followed by a B/W conversion.

Let me know if this works better or if the different crop and processing achieves the better placement of mousetails but at the expense of some kind of energy in the image.   

Marylynne, I think the pattern works very well with the spikes of the seeds adding some fine textural contrast.  I do think this would be improved if the tips of the two spikes along the bottom were brighter and the one tip wasn't cut off.  I like how the repost includes the second tip in the frame but prefer the extra emphasis on texture on the left that the rectangular crop provides.  For me the rectangular crop has a better balance between how much attention I pay to the scales and the seeds.

Thanks everyone.  I think I'll start from scratch on this one.  Better lighting and focus on the seed tips necessitate a reshoot, I think.  I'll process in Nik + LR with a horizontal comp like the first one but get those tips tack sharp and well exposed. 

Hello Marylynne, I have no experience on B&W conversion. I like the square crop, but the contrast in the first post. I like the sheen in the original.

Well, I took one more stab at re-processing this cone...I just liked the sweep of the seeds better than any other speciment on the ground this week ;-).

I took some creative licens through cloning to keep the seed tail from exiting the frame.  Does it work? Can you tell?