monochromatic landscapes

I am not going to lie living in Southern California there isn't much to complain about. The weather forecast usually reads something like: sunny mid to upper 70s for the next five days. We wear bathing suits under our holiday clothes and apply sunscreen on Christmas. All that sunshine can make it difficult to capture the imperceptible weather shift come January.

I can tell its winter right now, we are seeing less blue and more gray. Everything monochromatic.  Leaves drop and shadows run long. Converting shots to black and white help me squeeze every drop of winter I can out of an image.  My favorite way to enhance lacy tree branches is to convert to black and white and add contrast.

Bright days of sunshine are common in the high desert, the chaparral goes dormant while the cactus lies in wait. The sun low in the sky casts a misleading softness to the needles. I see things differently with each season. I think the ambient light of wintertime brings out great detail you otherwise miss on a sunny filled day. A winter day can provide a nice neutral canvas to highlight your subject like the corroding scrolls of this iron gate. Winter is the perfect canvas.

 

untitled by *esra*