Closer cropping would solve many of my issues with this image, light on left bottom and maybe its a bush on the right. The top of the tree could use a little more light or exposure. A very good effort, some obstackles are very hard to overcome.
good idea and did you use the flash or is the lighting from the light on the left? I think if you could have hidden that light somehow it would be much better...maybe a little more light towards the top of the tree too. good luck
Top 2 thirds of the shot is great. Neat shadows, texture and color. I would loose the lights from the house by cropping for the challenge and blacken them out for printing.