Old Calston graveyard in Edinburgh

[Jerry van Dijk]

I only had a few days of sightseeing in Edinburgh, and the weather wasn't cooperating (as is not unusual in Edinburgh). I took advantage of the gloomy conditions to get some nice cityscapes with threatening clouds and chose a BW conversion to add to the spookyness.
4 image HDR, specs below apply to the image without exposure compensation.
Olympus XZ-1, handheld, 15mm, ISO-100, f/5, 1/800.
ACR/CS6 BW conversion, lens distortion corrected with adaptive wide angle option in CS6.

[Morkel Erasmus]

This works very well, Jerry. Good tonal range, contrast and composition.
I would try and get more drama out of the clouds, try using tonal contrast or local contrast enhancement?

[Dvir Barkay]

I like this, the compo is nice, maybe take off a bit the top. Agree with Morkel about adding a bit of structure to the clouds.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for your comments! I'll have a go at those clouds now you mention it. I was afraid that more contrast than the HDR already accomplished would put it over the top and make the image look too artificial.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Here's a version with a sliver off the top and some more drama added to the clouds. I used the grad filter in ACR and increased clarity while decreasing contrast to emphasize the cloud structures without darkening the clouds too much. I also had to apply much more NR to the sky because of this treatment.
Let me know what you think!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jerry, repost is an improvement. I like the overall comp but still do feel a touch of Nik's tonal contrast would take up another notch.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Andrew. I don't own any of the Nik software. Is there a comparable treatment in PS?