Caesalpinnia Pulcherrima - mono

Encouraged by some of the positive feedback of the colour version of this flower that I posted recently, and also by the current competition, I have tried my hand at doing a high contrast mono version of another Caesalpinnia Pulcherrima from the garden. I originally entered one of these in the competition but decided it wasn't abstract enough and that probably it counts as a tree! These are my first attempts at mono since doing GCSE photography at secondary school 25 years ago!
Any comments and/or advice much appreciated.

Steve




In this shot I used desaturate after the conversion



*ist D / Sigma 105 macro / f19 / 0.7 sec / ISO200

Hi Steve,
The first one looks a bit soft compared to number two. But the first one has a far better tonal range. IMHO. Just plain desaturate isn,t the best way if you have Photoshop. Better use channel mixer for more control.
If i may give you a suggestion? Push up the midtones really high. Just till the point it almost equals the backround.
Good luck.
Martin.