Big tree trunk washed up on Buller Bay, converted to BW with Nik Silver Efex – click to embiggen
On the far side of Buller Bay the locals have carved a path down the cliff to the beach. Very little sand on the beach, its covered in treacherous rocks of all different shapes and sizes, I was careful walking across them as it would have been easy to twist an ankle!
This is early morning, about an hour after sunrise, and the wind was incredibly strong, I know why the first settlers named it Cape Foulwind! Luckily it was a bit calmer down behind the cliffs, but as you can see from the surf and the sky, it was very blustery.
I did a BW conversion on the above image as I wanted to capture all the textures in the driftwood and in the sky.
Another full sized log washed up
This image is another big piece of driftwood further around, I have left this in colour so you can see the colours in the rocks and cliffs. The muted light faded the distant hills into a haze of blue and grey. It was very invigorating to be there with the wind howling and the surf pounding!
Do you think the BW works?
I pushed the skies a notch or two higher than I normally would in post pro – is it too much? Are they distracting or add to the mood?
Learning to See Light 
My preference is the colour version, but I think it is more that I love to see the colours in the rocks and driftwood. The West Coast of the South Island is such a wild and rugged place, I love to see it.
I like the colour versions as well but I also enjoy the different effect BW gives, it really picks up the textures and can really change the whole mood of an image. I am having fun experimenting with it with certain images.
The colour version of this pic is here http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebluerose/8679463309/in/photostream/lightbox/
I like the B&W, the range of tones, the deep look to the sky. Makes me think I should try Silver Efex.
Its really fun software and now Google has bought them and made the price so much more affordable, it was the only way I could justify it! I recommend the Nik Suite, I have played with Color and Silver Efex and Viveza
The photo is stunning. the range of b&w and all the steps in between is amazing. Most beautiful B&W i have seen in a very long time
Thanks Michael, appreciate the feedback as I am new to BW and still finding my feet 🙂
I find B&W works best when there is plenty of contrast in the shot, and so your choice to use it above is a good call 🙂
Thanks Deb, I was specifically looking for images that would provide contrast so I could play with conversions 🙂
I really like your black and white version. I think that the changes you made really benefit the image.
Thanks, except for editing a hotspot on one part of the log, all the rest was just tweaking the tonings.
That maybe why this version works. Sometimes I think if you (as the artist) have to edit too much, maybe you should just try a different type of editing or re-take the photo.
I actually shot this photo with BW in mind as the end result, because of the lighting I had that intention to emphasize textural details instead and when I saw that stump with all the woodgrain lines in it I was quite hopeful it would come out well in BW.
I am a bit of a purist with editing, I tend towards the ‘less is more’ idea but I attended a Trey Ratcliff course last year and I learned a few new techniques that helped just add a bit more to the image (using ND filters in the skies etc) so I am pushing my boundaries, and playing with BW is part of that. Had really good feedback so far so will continue to experiment 🙂
I think that is very cool that you “pre-visualised” your end result. I also agree with you about the editing, I tend to do less. I will be taking a photoshop class in the fall to push myself a bit. That is cool that you took a course are applying what you have learned.
I hadn’t really thought about it but you are right, I did previsualise this image! How about that!
I have just got photoshop, havent used it yet, waiting for my ref book to arrive but I suspect I will need to do a course as well to get the best out of it. Good luck with yours!
Thank you. That course will start in the fall, and I am quite certain I will be blogging about it. I look forward to following your journey as well. 🙂