As suggested by Matt K

[JohnC]

I've posted this photo here before in the landscape category since I had processed it in color. Matt Kloskowski used this photo in his just released Landscape course. He used it specifically to show off the B&W presets that are available in the current version of Lightroom. He didn't actually process the photo so much as just fly through 10 or 12 presets showing them all off.

This has been one of my very favorite photos and I have always loved the vibrancy of the colors. But Matt got me to thinking. So I took the final color version and ran it through Nik Silver Effects Pro. I have to admit, I really like the B&W a lot.

 

[AlanLichty]

Silver Efex Pro does some really nice conversions. This one came out quite well.

 

[JohnC]

Thanks Alan. I’ve used it for other B&W and have always liked the results. Now if I could get more familiar with the differences between all the adjustment sliders. ;-)

 

[JimFox]

Hey John, this is sure pretty nice in B&W.

For myself, I don't adjust any sliders in Silver Efex Pro 2. Maybe it's something I should look into. I almost always choose one of the 2 "Structured" effects. Then in Photoshop I do final adjustments to taste.

 

[Ben Egbert]

This is certainly a great image for B&W. I also use Nik presets without the sliders.

 

[JohnC]

Thank you Jim. I've always tweaked my Nik edits back in Lightroom. But on Matt's video he talks and compares the slider adjustments that are available in Nik with the now available slider adjustments in LR (using the LR B&W "profiles"). Matt seems to indicate that the adjustments are pretty comparable but since my old version of LR doesn't have the B&W profiles it made me want to experiment with the sliders in Nik. However, in the end I just took the shadows down a little which probably could have been done and looked the same even in my old perpetual version of LR.

 

[JohnC]

Thank you Ben.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Excellent shot. I use FX Pro for all my b&w work and do use the sliders and often the adjustment brushes.

 

[JohnC]

Thank yoy Jim.

 

[Joe Colozzo]

beautiful

 

[JohnC]

Thank you Joe.

 

[MonikaC]

Granite lends itself to B&W very well - it's often my choice. I think that even more than the sliders in SilverEfex, I use the control points.

 

[JohnC]

Granite lends itself to B&W very well - it's often my choice. I think that even more than the sliders in SilverEfex, I use the control points.

Thanks Monika. I think Ansel makes us always think B&W when in Yosemite. But I've found it obviously doesn't always work. To borrow from Kenny Rogers, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em when it comes to B&W.

I've also noticed since looking, that SilverEfex has a boatload of adjustments for fine tuning. I've been trying more of them after settling on a basic effect. It's almost mind boggling the many tweaks you can make. I'm working on one now for Fern Spring. But it's going to have to wait since I'm leaving again Saturday heading to the redwoods of NorCal.

 

[MonikaC]

Thanks Monika. I think Ansel makes us always think B&W when in Yosemite. But I've found it obviously doesn't always work. To borrow from Kenny Rogers, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em when it comes to B&W.

I've also noticed since looking, that SilverEfex has a boatload of adjustments for fine tuning. I've been trying more of them after settling on a basic effect. It's almost mind boggling the many tweaks you can make. I'm working on one now for Fern Spring. But it's going to have to wait since I'm leaving again Saturday heading to the redwoods of NorCal.

I don't think of B&W for Yosemite because of Ansel. I think that granite anywhere works well in B&W because of the textures in granite.