Towering Spruce (monochrome)

And so here is another version of the colour image I posted a few days ago. I deliberately didn’t post them together because that encourages folks to bounce back and forth between the two to decide which one they like better. This isn’t just a black and white conversion of the previous colour version. For this, I started from scratch and it feels to me like an entirely different picture. While I love the colour and light in the colour version, this one feels more dramatic, wilder – and I love that too.

Is this a composite: No

I too am drawn to this black and white version, Kerry. For me, the tree texture and movement match the flow and detail in the clouds. Great idea and nicely done.

Kerry, I also prefer the B&W. The sky is really amazing and the processing to my eye is spot on. The perspective of the shot is a draw for me as well.

Kerry, I think it was a good idea to separate the color vs. B&W versions of this into two posts. They really are two very different things with totally different looks. I think the B&W version here does a good job of drawing out the graphic shapes and textures of the Black spruce. Interestingly, I initially thought that darkening the blue in the sky would make the graphic shapes of the trees stand out even more (I went back to your color version to do my own conversion). But upon doing that, the trees stand out better with the sky the way you have it presented here.

My suggestions for tweaks would be to burn the brightest highlights in the sky that are just above the spruce jutting out of the LRC. And I would play with adding some further vignetting to the edges. Here is a rework reflecting both comments, the degree of vignette is a matter or personal taste, I think it works fine as originally presented too.

I would echo what Mario wrote. The two things that make this image for me is the sky and the perspective of looking upwardly.

@linda_mellor , @Mario_Cornacchione , @Ed_McGuirk , @Igor_Doncov . Thank you all. Of course, I love all my children equally but just between you and me, I also prefer the black and white for how it accentuates the wildness of the trees against the sky. And yes, shooting up with a wide lens will always result in distortion. Sometimes it is distracting but in this case, I think it enhances the drama. Ed, I appreciate your comments and I have incorporated your suggestion to pull back on the brightness in clouds in the lower right and push the vignetting a tad more. Thanks for that.