Afternoon Thunderstormsby
JuliBocComment: Hi Julie. This composition is quite nice, but my eye wants something more. I'm guessing it's contrast.
I noticed you desaturated by using the saturation slider. Instead, try using the channel mixer. You'd be amazed at how different you can make the same scene by using different amounts of the red, green, and blue channels.
In case channels are new to you, they're B&W versions that use different levels of gray, from black to white, to show how much of each of red, green, and blue appear in the photo. So something that's bright red will appear almost white in the red channel, but almost black in the blue. Every color combines red, green, and blue in different amounts, and channels separate those levels out. If you're using Photoshop, you can see the "channels" tab in the same box as the layers. Turn each of them on one at a time to see how they work.
You can really emphasize different things. For example, these are both the same shot, using only the red channel or the blue channel:
For more help, check out this
DPC tutorial on converting to B&W:
Message edited by author 2006-11-22 11:11:37. 
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