i was debating whether to take out that top part too, but decided to leave it in - just seemed to balance better for me. didn't think about putting it in b&w, but just did and it looks wicked. thanks again for your comments!
Because you lose detail and color in the grain? Is that important here? I like the contrast because I'm looking at the abstract distribution of the cleaved off limbs. It's a fence, I suspect, and I can see it even more minimally in b&w, and with the top log and shadow chropped out.
Another one would be that it causes really deep shadows :-) Black without texture would be ok in the gaps, but I think the transition to black is too abrupt. A touch softer light would really help IMHO.