Windy Death Valley Dunes, Black and White

In September Outdoor Photographer Magazine had a “Monochrome Magic” theme for one of their Assignments, so I produced my first black and white conversion for this Death Valley image, using Adobe Lightroom, then Nik Silver Efex 2.

It won!
https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/blog/monochrome-magic-assignment-winner-jeff-sullivan/

My Death Valley workshop for light like this is held each year in December:
http://www.jeffsullivanphotography.com/blog/death-valley-photography-workshop-2013/

Here’s a color rendering of the same image:

I find myself producing more and more black and white images over time. Our eyes are drawn to brightness & contrast, and our gaze follows edges/lines. Black and white can help focus our attention on lines, shapes and light.

Here’s an album on Flickr of some of my results: