Garden of the Gods Park in B&W, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Okay, ChrisH (SoCal) got me hooked on using the B&W Adjustment Layer to do my black and white conversions. If you haven't tried it, you really should. Here are the circumstances for this image: it was early morning ... probably an hour or so after sunrise. The shadows were harsh and the sky was not exactly the color I like to see in a good landscape. It was like I could only shoot 50% of the park because the rest was lit incorrectly.

 

So with a weak sky but the beautiful red rocks in this image, I thought I'd play with the B&W Adjustment Layer. The availability of the color sliders is wonderful! I was able to tweak the "cyan" and "blue" sliders really helped bring out some contrasts in the sky ... and I played with the "red" and "yellow" sliders to try to work on the tonal range in the rocks. The one on the right is a deeper red/maroon color, the one in the middle of the image is more of a light brown color. I wanted the differences in tone to be obvious.

 

I have a long way to go, but am pleased with what I'm learning so far!

 

Any thoughts?

Any comments or ratings are appreciated! :-)

Very nice landscape, Lou. Nice composition and lights. Congrats. 6/6. Regards, Chico do Vale

I think you did a great job with the conversion. I think you squeaked out all you could from this (the only thing would be to increase the contrast locally in the sky to bring out those clouds...try adding a layer and changing the blending to "multiply". As for the comp, I think it could benefit from a slight crop at the bottom to remove those trees. Other than, nicely done.

Lou Ann... A very good conversion and an interesting photo. I'll let Chris get all verbose with descriptions :-) but I really like this. It caught my attention immediately while scrolling down the new entries. A matter of taste, but I'd hit the highlights (rocks only) just a touch. It's obvious there's a lot of contrast in the scene, so let a little of it show, but not too much. Good shot! Mike

 

Very nice work, Lou Ann, I don't know how much of this was due to your PS adjustments but the resulting image is striking.

You pretty well nailed this one, Kiddo! I'm impressed! First, it is a great composition; top to bottom, and side to side. Second, I agree with Younes on the clouds; they could use a bit more pop. I don't agree with the crop of the trees, but that's your call. Finally, I think your black and white conversion is great; I might have played with the blue and cyan more, for the sky's sake and the mountains far off, in the distance; but this is really good. See, Lou Ann, I told you this isn't that bad; is it? Well done! Cheers! Chris

Beautiful light and shadows. Very nice.