How I saw it
I was out cycling through a quiet part of Kent, minding my own business, and just waiting as I do for inspiration to find me, as I know it eventually will, until something clicked.
That intuitive feeling – that little internal moment – told me to stop. I wasn’t sure at that moment what my composition was going to eventually be, but I’ve learnt to trust that moment.
What caught me was the stark silhouette of this tree, stripped of leaves at the tail end of winter. The dense mesh of bare branches was very striking visually – organic, messy, and beautiful. Against that, the clouds drifting behind were soft, and almost cartoon-like in their shape. That contrast struck me. And as those feelings came from a moment of inspiration, I stopped to take the photo.
Why I photographed it
This kind of scene is not about colour. But when I took the photo I wasn’t fully aware of that, although I do always visualise the final image, I also allow myself to be totally flexible. Some images fall flat once the colour is stripped away – but others, like this one, actually come alive.
There wasn’t much colour doing the heavy lifting here anyway. If anything, it might have distracted from the jagged shapes of the branches and the road curving into the distance.
The composition built itself really – tree just off-centre, with a healthy amount of space around the left hand side of the tree, road pulling your eye in, and the sky framing the subject. It’s the kind of balance I rely on instinct to find. Once I’ve had that moment of inspiration, I let the rest fall into place.
How I processed it
This is processed using my usual black and white workflow. It starts in Lightroom classic:I applied a monochrome profile, then dropped the exposure by four stops – yep, the maximum amount in Lightroom classic for a conventional photo – That turned the image almost black and then I slowly brought the image back up from there, adjusting contrast, clarity, and shadows until the structure came out. That method gives a punchy, deep black and white look without overcooking it.
I also added quite a strong vignette, which I often do when working with scenes like this – it helps frame the image and keep the viewer’s attention where it belongs. If you’re curious about that editing technique, I’ve got a full video breakdown right here.
For this image, the vignette darkens the sky enough to give weight to the top of the frame, drawing you down to the tree’s spidery network of branches.
That’s how I saw it. That’s why I stopped. That’s what I did with it.
If you’re interested in seeing more examples of my black and white photography, you’ll find more black and white work in this gallery, and more about the compositionprocess in this post.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Have you ever captured a photo where the colour got in the way – and black and white turned it into something more compelling?
