I'm an advocate of taking pictures any time of day, especially when on the road. I don't always have the luxury of waiting for the perfect light. And one of my favorite mid-day tricks is to switch to monochrome in bright, contrasty conditions.

In these situations, I adjust my approach to composition as well. With monochrome photography, I focus more on strong, simple elements. In this case of the McKinney tower, the structure itself attracted my eye. Then, I knew that the scattered clouds in the sky would complement the metal structure, especially in black and white.

There are two basic approaches at capture. The first is to shoot in color as normal, then convert to monochrome in post. Or, switch to a B&W mode on the camera to make it easier to visualize the composition. If you go this route, which I prefer, I recommend RAW+Jpeg so you have a master as well.

Either way, there's no reason to shy away from contrasty conditions. Just make a few adjustments, and keep on shooting.

You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.