The Legends of Greyscale

I got on a little bit of a black & white kick a few days ago. In this digital age I always shoot in colour and then change things up in Photoshop later. But there's more to it than simply switching modes to greyscale. Many hours, numerous layers and countless adjustments later, and the following three images were the results.

The first is the Bowe home near Burdett, AB. I wanted to ensure that neither the skies, the trees, the grass or the house simply blended in; I wanted each to be a unique element of the picture...

The second is a shot taken in Peggy's Cove just after a storm had passed. It was important to me to maintain the strong presence of the gorgeous sunbeams breaking through the clouds in the background, as well as to emphasize the way the light directly above me was already illuminating the homes and the bare granite...

And, even though this old violin my grandma bought me still has some rich colour in the wood, I was hoping to emphasize its age and days gone by. So, I decided to go with a bit of an "infrared film" look, and I threw in a little bit of "film grain" as well...