Black and White

The exercise required an image to be shot that at the time I imagined would look better in black and white.  I think most of the images I took in Highgate Cemetery, I imaged in black and white because of the masonry and Gothic or Victorian potential.

Here is the original JPEG as shot:

I imagined this to be interesting in black and white because of the strong curve, the repetition of pattern, the texture of the masonry and the outline of the trees behind.  The image was taken at one stop under exposed (so as to avoid blowing out the sky) and subject framing from right with the initial carvings in the post then left to right up the curve.

Here is the straight forward conversion:

which I think works quite well, however - particularly with the alternating tones of the triangular doorways, but it lacks a bit of vitality.  I then brought back some shadow protection and sharpened slightly to produce this (tiny difference but slightly better):