Bruce, I am an old B&W film shooter who converted to digital about 4-5 years ago... and I convert 90% of what I shoot to B&W. But I am by no means an expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt...
I like your top image. I do not know how you converted it, but it generally looks good. It has good texture in the brinks, the contrast is good and it seems to have a nice range of mid-tone grays. I see a lot of bricks in pictures (including my own) where they just become a muddy gray. You also have to be careful in conversions because, with bricks & rocks, some things on the surface that don't look particularly bright to your eye often light up in the conversion. I find this especially true when there are lichens, oxidation, mold, corrosion, etc. on the surface. It looks like there are a few bright spots like that on the left side and if you used a conversion technique where you can adjust the different channels then a little tweaking of the channels might help tame that.
I think the other thing that you have to be careful with in converting to B&W is that without color in the picture, the composition and the placement of the various gray to white surfaces becomes more important. To me, the brightness of the stone sill in the upper center draws my attention away from the architectural detail around the tower (I consider that to be the real focus of the image) and I would crop the top edge down to the point where you can no longer see that slanted sill - - not much... just the top 2 rows of bricks. That change keeps your focus on the brick details in the center. It also adds some mystery to the picture (...how tall is this tower, anyway?) and I like it when a picture leaves you wanting to explore the scene beyond the frame more.
I'm no good at tree bark... If I do a picture with trees or tree trunks in it my wife asks me when I'm going to give up photography!
Wes, thank you for your comments, very thorough and helpful. I hope to get out and try again this weekend, and you have given me much to consider.
I used Lightroom for both conversions.
I see what you are saying about the blown-out spots in the bricks. I need to keep a closer eye out for that. I also agree that the light-colored sill draws attention where it is not wanted. Scrolling that off the top of the page improves the picture.
wclavey wrote:
... If I do a picture with trees or tree trunks in it my wife asks me when I'm going to give up photography!
Hey, we can always count on our spouses for support, right?
