I think the subject matter and composition and the overall impact overshadow the technical issues with the photo (loss of details in the highlights/shadows). Definitely an graphic-arts approach with a photo as the base, but I really like it. The only weak spot in the composition is it's not quite centered -- you can see the window on the left but not on the right.
It's slightly not centered and tilted which is killing me. Other than that, I think it's a cool shot.
With something like this, symetry is key. This shot missed that just a bit. The overhangs on the top are not even, window on one side not the other. I'm also not keen on the super dark areas down below. they are more distracting than adding to the image and could be cropped out or better yet, make sure things are better in camera. I like the BW and I like the grain effect.
Yea, i agree, i looked at it quickly and saw that it was a cool picture with a nice subject, the tunneling aspect or vignetting is very distracting i think, i would love to see this before the whole post processing, if you are to do the post processing, i say go a little lighter, without the zoom-in and out factor, it would look a lot better this way. A lighter B&W and the same amoutn of grain would look the best.
If you do want to go with perfect symmetry, you could cut the image in half and then mirror that half to the other. Of course the book might look silly, but you could mask that off or something. I love the effects for this shot - gives it great power.
