Big Witch Overlook - Maggie Valley, NC

[Michael Pancier]

This shot of the Smokies was taken early afternoon in Maggie Valley, NC along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I loved the lines from the mountains but the haze and the flat lighting made the color image look pretty lame.

I converted it to B&W using Nik Silver Effects Pro by boosting the structure and contrast to bring out the lines and detail in both the clouds and mountain ridge. Elevation here was 4,160 feet.

EOS 5d Mark II
Canon 70-200 2.8L USM IS + Polarizer @ 145mm
ƒ/16
1/60
ISO 100
Full frame on tripod

[Dave Mills]

Hi Michael, good choice for conversion which came out very strong. The layered mountains are nicely defined with a beautiful cloudbank above it.IMO the upper cloud bank might be taking away from some of the strength from the mountains.
You might want to take a look at cropping from the top down to a bit above the clouds point on the left.

[Michael Pancier]

Hi Michael, good choice for conversion which came out very strong. The layered mountains are nicely defined with a beautiful cloudbank above it.IMO the upper cloud bank might be taking away from some of the strength from the mountains.
You might want to take a look at cropping from the top down to a bit above the clouds point on the left.

I tried the crop in lightroom and it does look better. thanks for the eye.

[peter delaney]

lovely image Micheal , love those clouds ... only suggestion I would make is to use the grad filter on bottom half of image to get a darker layered effect to balance very strong skies,,,agree with Dave on crop...

[Nick Palmieri]

Very nice choice for B&W conversion. Agree with Dave's crop suggestion. I really like the layers and the hefty clouds.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice work here Michael - good suggestion to crop as I was going to say the same. nice detail and tonal range in all the layers.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Michael,
Late to the party......really like the layers and depth......and while I also like the crop.....you may also try erasing the cloud at the very top in the center going left.....may work too!