Here is a photo that I shot in Reinfeld when it was really cold outside and when the large pond was frozen. Of course, the image above is the edited version because I experimented with black and white and liked the result. Also it is cropped to highlight the tree because the original was shot from the distance. I am no expert but I can just assume that this is a willow tree, but I wouldn’t wonder if I am wrong because I don’t know that much about trees. I will also show you the photo before I converted it to black and white. Here is how the original with just minor adjustments looked like…
Diary of Dennis 
I like them both, but I agree cropping is what makes the picture. The colors (and yes, at a guess I’d say it looks like a willow) in the bottom one are delicate, and charming. The drama comes from the b/w since focus is on the shape of the tree. But truly either one works well on its own. Have you tried cropping the colored version and compare them? I have the same problem at times, and sometimes color takes away from the image, sometimes it adds to it. Very frustrating, but isn’t it nice with digital we have that luxury now…
Good points. I have different interesting black and white settings, but one template seemed to push the contrast so much that the structure of the tree stem shape became very visible. I liked that a lot, because the tree grew very diffuse.
I know what you mean. I sometimes have three or up to four different edits and compare them but it’s so difficult to make a choice sometimes. In this case I had crop and no crop version of the original, and crop and no crop in black and white…. also I tested different black and white conversions, since the Silver Efex plugin has some really interesting black and white templates that are all very different.
I think I do generally try black and white when I am unhappy with the colors. If you see the tree line far away in the background of the original, it has somehow dull colors, probably because of the fog or morning dew. I noticed, when the weather is not clear and I zoom close to 300mm, you will definitely notice these tiny particles in the image. You basically zoom through the fog. I don’t like that, but that’s how it is during certain weather conditions. Since I didn’t like the colors except for the white ice, I thought I could go with black and white, to at least push the structure of the tree. But you’re right, it sometimes difficult to make these decisions.
Wow…It’s like two completely different pictures. Wonderful editting.
Thank you 🙂 I like pictures that are nice as they come out of the camera but those that need some extra work are very interesting too because you actually get a chance or reason to edit them. I often wonder if I can improve the photos from my own collection that I dislike. I like editing, trying different things out and so 🙂
I feel the same way 🙂 It’s fun to see it come together!