Does this work

[Chris Calohan]

or am I blowing smoke up my pantaloons?

[aduke]

I rather like the lower 3/4 of the image. The light on the leaves is very nice, but the dark branch at the top makes the image top-heavy.

Alan

[Tony Jay]

IMHO the idea is excellent and the execution very close to bullseye.
I would just play with slightly different compositions - you are very close to nailing the shot.

Tony Jay

[PeterAit]

Doesn't work for me. But, that's not important. Does it work for you? My main suggestion would be to tone down the bright spot at the lower left.

[amolitor]

It mostly works, I think. I've shot some things that look quite a bit like this, so I am definitely biased toward this kind of thing.

The one issue I have with it is that the branches are trying to pull me up and left, where there isn't much of anything to look at. Or at any rate, no special center of interest there. So, you pretty much have to love the thing as a whole, not as a little "eye journey". But, basically, I do.

[wolfnowl]

I rather like the lower 3/4 of the image. The light on the leaves is very nice, but the dark branch at the top makes the image top-heavy.

Alan

Yes.

Mike.

[Vladimirovich]

IMHO the idea is excellent

and what is the idea ?

[RSL]

Exactly, Vladimir. And, to answer the question: No.

[Tony Jay]

and what is the idea?

The idea is (was) to highlight the textures and shapes of the leaves and branches of this tree using sidelighting or backlighting to create a pleasantly aesthetic result.
I cannot exactly speak for Chris' motivations of course but his treatment of the image points to this.
I see in another thread that he has reworked what seems to be the same base image - like this one he hasn't quite got it right.

BTW my personal approach to critiquing images is not to be too harsh and negative but rather to suggest, and lead, and encourage in those situations where an image may not quite work. In this instance my suggestion was to reshoot different compositions with the same broad goal in mind.
I stand by the thoughts in my original post.

Tony Jay