the foreground is a little dark, and you've got stuf overlapping which makes it hard to pick out the details of the leaves and branches. they also seem to have been cut rather unnaturally.
I wish this had been exposed just a little bit longer, to allow for greater contrast. Also, the composition is lacking something, but I am not sure what. Maybe shooting closer in on the subject matter might have helped.
deparately needs close-up here - if your camera won't allow this then get hold of a strong spectacle lens and place in front of your camera lense - this will allow you to focus much closer for no cost! Did you try this shot in colour? I think it would have worked better, but the close-up is more important. Good subject for challenge.
This is a nice black and white image. The black and white may be making it difficult for me to catch the transition between the new leaves and the old ones...
Good idea. I think I would've choosen a different angle to avoid cutting off the leaves to the right and maybe try not to have the leaf on the left in the pic. Also think that maybe color would've been better here.
B&W hasn't done much for this - the contrast is still quite low and very grey - some work in photoshop with levels might have darkened the darks and lightened the lights to make this stronger. Framing is too central and makes it quite static.