Black and White pictures - I love them! Not all pictures take this treatment well, but here are a couple that I think do. Any comments welcomed...
Lone Tree on Sentinel Dome: taken on top of Sentinel Dome in Yosemite National Park. Same place that the famous Jefferson Pine is, although that turned out to be little more than a crumbling stump - a shadow of it's former tortured glory. Just round the edge of the dome, and away from the tourists like us, was this tree, bent and twisted and clinging to life on this dry, exposed rock. Lovely, and the only distraction to an otherwise minimalist scene is the whispy cloud behind the tree itself. It was converted to black and white using the Channel Mixer function, being careful not to burn out any of the hightlights. Then, contrast was increased using the curves method (very slight "S" shaped curve on the curves interface), and a final tweak with the old Dodge and Burn brushes, very gently (5% max).
Palm bark detail: Different kind of shot this. Close in, rather than dramatic landscape. Trying to highlight the shapes and textures. Same method as above used, and this is a close-in crop from the original picture. I like the shark's teeth appearance of the bark in one place, and the nice textures of the thread-like elements. The original colour image was OK, but lacked punch, and I thought this would do just that.
Ivan
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