I actually shot the photo late in the day (along the South Mesa Trail, just west of Boulder). The setting sun had just dropped beneath a deck of clouds, lighting up those dead branches. In the background were some pines, and while they formed a darkish background, they were clearly visible. What struck me about the scene was the stark, almost bleached white of the branches against the relatively dark background. But the detail visible in the background and around the branches was distracting. So first I cropped the image to focus more on the branches. Then I darkened the background, and brought back some of the detail lost in the bright white of the branches. I also applied a good deal of sharpening to the branches to make the rough bark stand out. (Also, some definition, which is the amount of local contrast applied.) But I wasn’t satisfied with the way it looked in color — because the colors distracted from the almost blinding white of the branches. So I converted the image to black and white. Lastly, I added a lot of vignetting, which darkened the corners, focusing even more attention on the branches.
In other words, this image doesn’t look anything like the original — except for the branches, which in my mind’s eye as I was standing there were blinding white, so much so that the scene around them kind of dropped away.
I’d be happy to send you a copy of the original if you’re curious.
5280 Lens Mafia 
Very nice, Tom. Suitably bleak.
Come back in a month or two and take that one again when there’s some snow. That would be a cool shot, too, I bet.
Did you take that at night? haunting light on the branches.
I actually shot the photo late in the day (along the South Mesa Trail, just west of Boulder). The setting sun had just dropped beneath a deck of clouds, lighting up those dead branches. In the background were some pines, and while they formed a darkish background, they were clearly visible. What struck me about the scene was the stark, almost bleached white of the branches against the relatively dark background. But the detail visible in the background and around the branches was distracting. So first I cropped the image to focus more on the branches. Then I darkened the background, and brought back some of the detail lost in the bright white of the branches. I also applied a good deal of sharpening to the branches to make the rough bark stand out. (Also, some definition, which is the amount of local contrast applied.) But I wasn’t satisfied with the way it looked in color — because the colors distracted from the almost blinding white of the branches. So I converted the image to black and white. Lastly, I added a lot of vignetting, which darkened the corners, focusing even more attention on the branches.
In other words, this image doesn’t look anything like the original — except for the branches, which in my mind’s eye as I was standing there were blinding white, so much so that the scene around them kind of dropped away.
I’d be happy to send you a copy of the original if you’re curious.