I wanted to show you one more landscape from the top of the mountain. I was attracted to this grouping of trees, counterbalanced by the ski trail sign on the right. I used light compression at 82.5mm to frame the trees within the mountain background.

I tried a black-and-white conversion, but it didn’t work. The spiky foreground trees got lost in the background mountain, which is too bad because I really like the almost architectural look of these evergreen trees. Monochrome pictures can be powerful, but you must ensure that the textures and contrasts don’t overwhelm the subject.

It occurred to me that a winter scene here might work better in black and white, especially if a thick blanket of snow could simplify the background. Then, the trees would pop against a simpler background framed by the angular shape of the mountains. Wouldn’t that be great?

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