Charcoal puddles

When I previously posted about the fascinating puddles that I found in a local lane I decided to rework a similar view to see if I could get closer to my ideal of this place. I also wanted to deal with the foreground more effectively.

 

I was much happier with this reworking, the looser foreground brings the viewer into the image and I feel happier with the contrast of tonal values between foreground and background.

Cropping images makes for interesting results, this brings the focal point to the centre, and visually gives us more background. So should I tear the original down, or use the crop as a starting point for an etching?