The leaves, probably originally yellow, do not seem to have enough power or interest to hold your attention. Perhaps because they appear so overwhelming white and do not convey, at least to me, the feeling of autumn, as many of your other images do. I don't think you can sharpen the foreground and divorce the overall look from the effect and technique you are trying to use. Unless one does complex layering and masking, it is not possible. I have many times tried to convey autumn in BW, and with few exceptions, the colour versions have far more impact and evoke the feeling of autumn much better than BW. After all, autumn is about colour and we see in colour.
Re your composition, I think if you raised your vantage point and thereby increased the size of the other leaves, it would better distribute the balance of light leaves on the path and lead the eye down that wonderful road of light. But it is not bad, really, just my opinion.
JMR
