Craig, that's really very, ah, instructive. My tendency is always wide, wider, widest. Never winnowing down. You've shown me how it should be done, for which I'm most grateful! I had a feeling I wasn't really doing those roots justice...
I have to agree with Matej that although the roots are quite interesting, there are too many extraneous object which distract attention away from them. I have done some quick adjustments in PS to give you an idea of how I would have treated the subject.
The approach to the subject strikes me as kind of too straightforward, which is OK for straight documentary, but I would guess that these roots might be a suitable subject for a more detail-ish shot concentrating on the root patterns and textures, for which you wouldn't need any colour either :-)
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