Texture studies

Recently I was taking a few pics whose main element was texture. The following are a couple (the latter evolved from a texture analysis to a photoedit to a border tutorial - I don't like the border). C&c?

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png'

I could see the second one being used for a background of some sort or even as a desktop background... I liek it actually.

^ In fact it's my desktop right now

Nice work.. is my background now

^ Thanks

I really like the geometry and the texture of the second one. Looks like somewhere between ice and sandpaper - cool. You really captured the crispness of the leaves, especially the ones on the top right.

The first one loses me a bit, I'm not sure where I'm going. I think it needs some stronger compositional elements, some hints. It's too soft and grainy for my taste.

Second one is good and sharp. Nice job.

Thanks, I took the photo of those leaves on a limestone slab and desaturated the slab. I am really just getting to know photoediting so I huess there's quite a lot to learn. Yes, I applied some unsharp mask there too. The first one is simply converted to black and white, no sharpening added. But besides that, most of the picture is simply out of focus and this is very evident at the corners (effect worsened because of the cheap p&s lens I think).