Hello from the Critique Club!
I have studied your image and have the following to offer:
Composition/perspective – with the path being hemmed in by trees and brush, your approach to the shot is excellent. I think it helps having no sky in the shot as well. The low approach allows you to feel the surroundings (see below), however, I think the processing took away from this strength. The broad path in the foreground fading in the distance really draws you into the shot and works well as a leading line. This also helps the centered feel of the path. If you were higher up I think that would be a problem so this was one way to solve that – good job. The perspective also helps to give this shot a very desolate feel that I thinks works very well with the palette.
Color – very nice and rich tones available all across the shot. The contrasts between the gray of the path and the green grass at the edge works very well. The browns and reds of the brush up to the darker grays and blacks in the trees makes a very nice shift and the symmetrical aspect of the shot helps set this up quite nicely.
Lighting – natural light for the most part controlled quite well. Some of the path at the far end appears blown out a bit and it shows as a bright spot. With the small amount of sky seen through the background trees appearing gray, this looks unnatural (there is no hint of sun anywhere in the shot).
Challenge requirements – a nice take on the requirements which it certainly meets. A path is certainly a road as far as this challenge was concerned, in my opinion. Nothing was said it had to be a paved or even auto use road.
Overall/my opinion – I see your comment that editing is everything. In this case, I think it is where it fell short. Not sure why you put a blur on the photo. It would have been much stronger, in my opinion, if there was more sharpness/crispness in the shot. There is a lot of great texture in the path, especially in the foreground, that is lost. The differences in density of the brush to the trees, if sharper, would have added greatly to the natural contrasts in color between the areas. Also, I think if it was sharper you get more of a sense that you were actually there when viewing the photo.
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