MV in BW

I processed this with Nik Silver Effect Pro with a little detail enhancement. Yea or Nay? CC always welcome.
Joe Rogers

Hi Joe:

This is nice but it could be be improved if you were able to make the sky a bit more dramatic and if you could find a way to have the tree in the lower left stand out a bit more.

Although I can't make any suggestions as to how to make those changes because I am lousy in the "digital darkroom", I can give you the why for my suggestions. The viewer's eye is ultimately drawn to the sky because it is the lightest part of the image. As a result (and in a perfect world), there would be something a bit more compelling to see there.

I suggested making the tree in the LL a bit more obvious in order to help lead the viewer into the shot better. As it is now, the eye travels from the dead juniper, to the mitten, to king on his throne (?), and then the far sandstone feature. It's a great composition that way and well done. But, since you asked , when that happens it leaves a void in the LL. That's not a shot-killer by any means but if you could fill that area by giving the eye one more place to stop on its way into the image, well, that could make the shot great.

Again, I don't really know how to implement either of my suggestions because I am so inept with processing software, but there are a lot of very proficient Photoshop, Lightroom, etc., users on this forum who may be able to some solutions.

Either way, I give it a "Yea". Thanks for posting this!

I really like this, and I like CAZ's advice, but I also think simply dodging that dead tree to make it more prominent, would really enhance this. To me, that dead tree is a major focal point. Toning down the sky a bit might be nice, but for some reason the bright sky here doesn't really bother me all that much.

Yea...with reservations.
I believe I might start all over again with the conversion, Joe.
The sky looks pretty good to me and I think it could stand to be darkened and 'dramatized' via contrast somewhat.
I think that the sandstone cliffs of Left Mitten Butte and the dead cedar could be lightened somewhat to help separate them mor from the surrounding environs, as well.
This has the potential to be a great b&w image, but it's gonna take some work.

Pleasing shot, but just not quite there. As was already noted, there need to be a little more work to enhance the drama that is there. Not much I could add to the good advice that was already given. Look forward to seeing the repost.

Yea, with same reservations and advice expressed above. Needs a very slight clockwise rotation in my opinion, the ground may have been level when shooting, but the terrain looks a bit tilted when viewing this. In general, add contrast!

I really like the comp and it feels balanced to me. Ditto on more work on the conversion. The sky in particular lacks appeal. Red filter maybe? Also, try selecting just the sky and and adjusting levels on that area only.

Lacks Color.

Thanks guys, thats what I was looking for....back to the drawing board on this one. Good Black and White does not come easy, at least for me it never has.
Joe Rogers