I chose this view because their is the contrast in the light and shadow but also with the colours of the towers against the sky plus the curves of the towers which give the shot a balanced rhythm. The original above i was very pleased with but for the purpose of this project next i had to convert it to black & white.
Above is the original image converted to black & white, what i could see straight away is that there isn't any where near as much contrast visible as with the colour original also it feels alittle single toned in that the whole frame appears to be very grey meaning that I'd lost a lot of the detail on the towers. The good thing about modern photo software is that small problems like this can be easily fixed.
By using the brightness/contrast controls and the levels control you're able to return the lost details and give the shot back its eye catching appeal. Above is an improvement on the original black & white but i still felt that the shadows on the towers weren't as dark as i felt they could be so next i planned to use the levels tool to fix this (at this point had only used the brightness and contrast controls).
The final shot above surprisingly to me i prefer more then the colour original, by using the levels controls i was able to produce a image with far more contrast then even the original ever had. I really like the detail that its managed to pick out on the towers and with the strong shadows and the way the sun is catching the far tower and the steam escaping from them it makes the whole scene seem quiet ominous but yet when you look at the colour photo you don't get this feeling at all.Of course this whole process was a lot harder and more time consumer before the arrival of the digital camera. People like Ansel Adams had to get there exposure settings just right first time because other than altering the development process there was little if anything he would have been able to do if he'd lost the contrast he was after by over exposing the shot. If anything this project give you an even greater respect for what he achieved because in all his work you have to look and say he got it spot on every time and capture the moments to perfection.
