Black and White or Colour

It's all a bit high-contrast, isn't it, so there's less subtle in-between tones to provide texture instead of all the crunchy lines. I'd probably try dropping exposure, lifting shadows a bit & then seeing which carried better info, possibly also playing with the clarity control (both up & down).
 
Mono for me, with a slight vignette
 
ancient_mariner said:
I'd probably try dropping exposure,
Click to expand...
Well, that's a given, here As it stands, each image appears to the eye as a jagged mass of detail - too pale, too contrasty, too sharp, and all that right across the frame. Quite uncomfortable. I can't say at this point that the subject or framing are at fault, but the processing is. And there's nowt to choose between the colour and the mono in that respect - they're dead ringers for each other, as if you'd just clicked a conversion button. So it's time to start again from the original, and see what you might make of it.

Amongst all that jagged texture, the eye has nowhere to rest. An image needs focus - not focus as in lens terminology (though that comes into it), but focus in terms of the viewer's attention. The author of an image can't prescribe a viewer's response, but by default needs at least to lead it. And you've copped out.

It seems that with this image you're confused and lost. Stand back, and reflect on what you think &/or feel that you're trying to say.

In the end, trust your gut. But maybe you have to educate it first.
 
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What I see is the twisting contortions of the tree struggling to emerge from the rock. The rock is sharp and jagged; the roots are a mass of writhing detail, like the tree is never settled I like that my eye roves across the frame, taking in the twists and curves of the roots abruptly punctuated by the rock.
 
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