[Snowgen]

My second post here.

I wanted to make a B&W that was almost all white, except for the subject, and just enough background to make it interesting. More about the whites than the greys. I also did a faux-sepia version. Most people I talked to like the sepia version better, but I like this. How could I make it better?

[VTerlakyPhoto]

I think you may have pushed the contrast a bit too much here. The blacks in the bridge are too clipped to the point that you lose detail in the element that you wanted to emphasize to begin with. Also the rocks underneath the bridge look very unnatural to me. Just an opinion of course.

[adelorenzo]

The image is trying to make the subject stand out but when I look at it the extremely blown highlights of the snow and water are distracting to me. Unpleasant, really. There are so many cool lines in this bridge, getting a lot closer would really create more options for an interesting composition.

[Nick Nero]

My second post here.

I wanted to make a B&W that was almost all white, except for the subject, and just enough background to make it interesting. More about the whites than the greys. I also did a faux-sepia version. Most people I talked to like the sepia version better, but I like this. How could I make it better?

Not an easy task. To avoid it looking so washed out perhaps select the bridge, inverse and then do bw and then play with rgb, especially the blue, while still having the surroundings selected. After that possibly increase the overall contrast a notch.
I understand why your friends like the sepia better. Filters normaly add a bit of contrast and depth.
Then I agree with adelorentzo on that getting in closer and perhaps try a wideangle lens, if you got one in your kit, shooting from below the bridge at an upwards angle is probably a good idea.

[Gregory_51]

I would agree that it's too contrasty, the whites are clipped (no detail) and the blacks are blocked up (again no detail). The result unfortunately is a photo that looks poorly processed. It can be sometimes a deliberate choice but in most cases it doesn't work. The viewer in most cases would assume a bad exposure or poor pp. There are probably lots of potential images here in close up details. If the intent was to photograph the entire bridge the pov is OK. I would suggest bracketing and merging the images to accomodate the dynamic range. Something this contrasty likely won't fit in a single image, and you will end up losing detail in either the lights or the darks or on both ends. Take lots of shots and experiment it doesn't cost anything, not like in the film days.
Cheers
Greg