Three Giraffes Crossing the Plains of Tortillis
I am often amazed at just how stunning clouds can look in black and white. When there is a lack of dynamic color, black and white just seems to come center stage. The image below started out as a normal RAW color capture via my Nikon D3s. After basic color processing, I used Nik Software’s Viveza to selectively add contrast to the clouds followed by processing in Silver Effects Pro, again selectively targeting areas for increased contrast and brightness. Finally, a very light touch of noise reduction followed by output sharpening yields the image below. I am finding that giving those images bound for the trash a second look in b&w, often yields a very pleasing result. I would encourage you to try your hand at b&w conversions before giving up on a marginal color image.
Three Giraffes Crossing the Plains of Tortillis
Nikon D3s, 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 80mm, f/8.0 ISO 200 at 1/800 sec
Tortillis, near Amboseli National Park, Kenya
Cheers and Happy Photo’ing
Randy