Ok - this idea came from gahspidy's series. :) I had to try it!
Sorry that I stole your idea, but I won't do a series!

Anyway, Comments are appreciated.
Kodak 125 B&W
#8 Yellow Filter
Speed and app not recorded (My New Year's Resolution...record your settings)

Go for it,, I don't own the idea ;) I like this. The symetry is great and I like that I can just see a person at the end of the walkway. Good framing and comp. It just seems like the foreground here a bit dark, but it works!

Maybe a wee little bit too dark, but other than that, pretty neat shot you got there.

Ok - this idea came from gahspidy's series. :) I had to try it!
Sorry that I stole your idea, but I won't do a series!

Anyway, Comments are appreciated.
Kodak 125 B&W
#8 Yellow Filter
Speed and app not recorded (My New Year's Resolution...record your settings)
I like this a lot. The clouds seem out of place at first, but then I realize that they're the start of the photo, the eye goes there and then is drawn to the people by 4 lines, however the lake & the trees seem too bright & have too much detail for the rest of the photo.
I still like it A lot!
Mark.

Thanks for the encouragement gahspidy!
Technicolor: I thought is was too dark also, but decided to post it anyways.
Mdmc: Great suggestion about the blurring of the trees and lake background.

My question to all is how to I go about blurring (bokeh?) the background. A wider aperture and faster speed? Would this also start to blur the people on the bridge?
Any suggestions on how to make this a stronger picture without using PS are much appreciated.
Thanks.

I'm not too good at this, just starting out and all, but I think the end of the bridge and the person would be blurred too if you blured the bg. maybe you can set your fstop so you have just enough depth to capture the person and bridge but blur the rest. perhaps take several shots, if you have aperture priority on your camera it'll be a piece of cake. Start at the widest and work your way down. Youd use up a chunk of a roll, but youd probably get the desired effect on one or two of em.

In this shot, the trees are not bothersome in that they have some detail. To me, anyway. But if you were to use a wider aperture, the tress would blur, but since the people or person was just a silhouette, it would not matter too much if the person caught a bit of blur. The dark figure being the person would still be evident.. Personally, I like it as it is, and feel i also like the dark foreground ( which would probably show more detail on print than it does here on the screen.

To blur the trees and water use a piece of clear acetate sprayed with hairspray or dulling spray and "dodge" that area while printing. Make sure that you move the acetate to keep from establishing any pattern. Of course that will also lighten it and you will then have to "burn" additionally to compensate. Expect to use some extra paper with this technique. This may also "flatten" that particular area. When "burning" the area use a #4 or #5 contrast filter in conjunction with the acetate to increase the blacks. You may want to do that while "dodging" also. You just have to try it and see if it works for you.

C-Terry
Great advice! I've been waiting to get some great pointers on how to improve my pics in the darkroom. I'm in the process of compiling some negatives to use in the darkroom for the class I'll be enrolling in the spring.
I've been learning a lot since hanging out on this forum and always appreciate tips like these.
Cheers!