which crop is best?

[truth]

AKPM, I dig the first 3. They're all excellent images but the 1st version is the most powerful and well framed. I really dig the B&W. Nice work on the conversions.

[Vihren]

I would go for numero 3, you don't see too many skiing photos with afternoon colors... BW is ok, but you lose points if you remove those colors

[brice618]

I am going with a lightly colord number 1, in photoshop try and play with the saturation of the image, maybe curves too. The cold smoke being there in the first shot is what really makes it, the others look incomplete and aren't "balanced" compositionaly.

[Viva]

There's a certain presence in #1. I don't think the alpenglow work for that image- it's too weak and only serves to distract.

[cocavaak]

Definitely number 2. You follow the rule of thirds there with your subject off-center. That's a better postion for him. And you see the great detail in the puffing smoke and his gear. With such a tight shot, the color - though I hate to say it - doesn't add much for this photo. And I usually always prefer color! If it had been shot from far away and you could see more mountains in alpenglow, then yes color. Also, you notice the blown highlights in the sky a lot more with the color. And he's a silhouette anyway so B&W is the way to go.

[Rontele]

I voted for 1 too. Nice work Patrick.

[pechelman]

I think the bws are the better photos but I dont like either crop particularly.

The first one puts the skier, the subject, dead smack middle in the frame.
If its going to be judged, youll probably get hurt Id imagine because of that simple feature.

I think the 2nd crop is more to what you should enter. Extend the crop boundaries down a little so as to place the subject in the upper left third.
Id also reccomend burning in the upper right sky highlights a tad, burn in the bottom left corner for some tonal balance, and hold back the exposure on the skier himself to remove such a high Dmax and maybe attempt to get some details in the Zone 9 exposure range. You've also got a highlight on the skiers glove which is a bit distracting and could use a quick burn in as well. You might also try holding back a little of the exposure on the smoke trail, see if you can get it to be more smokey and have more chunks of flying snow. (worth a shot)

anyway, its a good working negative\raw, has a lot of potential

a book id reccomend picking up is the Master Printers Workbook (i think thats the name). Has some great photos with all the printers notes on what he did and why. It will really change the way to print your shots.