Florida is riddled with these long dead, but still standing oak and pine trees. Many of them will stand for years and years slowly loosing pieces until they finally fall. I have photographed quite a few of them because I love the textures of the wood and the twists and turns of the branches. Many of the oaks tend to have interesting branch patterns anyhow, but the pines usually don’t until branches begin to break and fall against each other. Either way, the branches are always pretty cool and always different.

Usually I do these photos in black and white since it brings out the patterns in the wood. But in this case I really liked the patterns of the clouds in the sky as well as the tree itself, so I decided to do it in color. When I got to working with the image curiosity got the best of me and I had to try it in black and white, too. There are things I like about each image, but I’m not sure which I prefer. What do you think?

But before you decide, let’s complicate things a little more. I liked the black and white better because of the way it made the tree look, but it really washed out the sky. The sky, in my opinion, looks much better in color. That led me to wonder, why not combine the two? And then, of course, why not try the opposite, a colored tree against a black and white sky? All have their merits, but now which do you prefer?