Here is my favorite of the first two attempts at duplicating the foggy tree photo using the landscape shapes of only white, mid-tone gray and black.

Of all the variations, I like this one the best because it's the most dramatic.  My tree stands out boldly against the dominant black shapes of the foreground and the distant trees (that you can't even see in the foggy photograph).  Artist's license is key to pure joy when it comes to creativity flowing at its best.

Grayscale collage of photo of the tree lit by the street light using newspaper photographs and scraps of white paper.  I used artistic license to add the small white shape below the sign post in the bottom left corner.

grayscale collage created from my own black and white workprints (back in the 70's).  I was inspired by the movie "Lady Sings the Blues" based on the life of Billy Holiday.  At the time, I didn't totally understand the importance of grayscale values and shapes.  However, I did see the impact of the value shapes when pieced together well.  Squint at this image and watch it come alive.  I felt as if I'd struck gold the night I created this.  It was several years before the lessons I learned that night really sunk in and began to be intuitive.

Below are two less-successful collages that I created having been so excited by the success of the one above. These are both self-portraits created by looking in a mirror rather than looking at a photograph.Though it is strong ... it doesn't quite do what I was hoping for.

This one doesn't work well at all.  Even so ... I learned a bit more by having created it.  I learned what DIDN'T work, and that is valuable information.

Keep playing!