Raj, looks like elephant legs ! Beautiful texture and form here. What interests me most is the tonal range here - should make a fine print. Of late for making prints I kind of like clipping bright and dark ranges at the extreme ends and then re-spreading the tonal ranges to compensate for the clipped highlights shadows. What are your thoughts ? May be I should see your hand made B&W prints. Thanks for sharing..

Thanks .Yes Ganesh the mid tones play a huge role in conveying the sense of light and texture. In a high contrast pic the technique you mention will pull out mid tones. Some of the other pics I made on that day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/raj-lookinglass/

Raj I loved Claws and Stately as well in the link that you provided. In fact I liked the tones in the image called Claws even more than this one, the tones of the leaves made that image for me . I am simply getting bored of high contrast black and white images, your and Ganesh's discussion definitely makes me feel its time to rethink. Merging tonalities are something I wish to work on, more towards the darker side...did a few in corbett, but still not very happy.

Thanks Nilanjan. The thought as I was doing these shots was that trees have personalities. Some of them have been watching this earth change for more than 2000 years. I have a long way to go in conveying their personalities. Just started this journey.

Extremely interesting idea Raj, I love the images you make, they make look simple but yet there is so much in them.The thoughts behind those creations are the biggest achievements in this journey. Plz keep them coming as I really appreciate the theme that you selected. The Silent Onlookers....

Rajkumar,
a fantastic post, and fantastic discussion. the point you mention about trees having seen the earth change - i felt that when i was standing in the redwood groves of N.California.

as for this one, i am learning so much. your tonal range in this image is truly phenomenal. i was experimenting with something like that too -- will post it. i have far to go in understanding this and prints... on the journey now.

best,
Arati