I just had a play with "Silver Efex Pro" which is a photoshop plugin for b&w conversion. It wont allow as much control as manual adjustment but I like the fact that I can instantly preview any effect.

I reduced the brightness & contrast & increased what they call "structure" which I think is local contrast (where edges occur).

It may be too dark for some, but I think it helps the play of light on the shinier stones at the top of the wall & adds to the gritiness of texture on the lower wall.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/keithsbike.jpg[/IMG]

Well they do say dogs & their owners often look alike !

Agreed about the focus accuracy Pete. In fact the first thing I do when I get a new lens is whip out the focus chart. I then make the necessary adjustments if required, before firing off some real-world test shots.

Rob, I'm not sure what your focus point was here but it almost certainly wasn't the rear light. As the others have said testing a lens at it's largest aperture is not a reliable way of testing a lens. Also iso400 isn't going to retain as much detail as iso100 due to noise control smudging the details.

Try a few tripod mounted shots at a smaller fstop & base iso. See what you then think.

Also a tip on your technique there. There is no need for such a fast shutter speed when you are not trying to capture things in motion. You could have lowered your shutter speed by one or two stops (maybe more depending on your technique) this would have allowed you to shoot at a smaller aperture &/or lower iso & resulting in a sharper image. (Apologies if I'm teaching my granny to suck eggs here)

Bob

Or we could all donate a tenner & take out a half page ad in one of the dailies !

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Yeah it's a little burnt out, partly due to my processing (experimenting with layer overlays & high contrast) & partly as I selected this slightly overexposed shot to process as the expression & lighting were most pleasing to me.

I'm not one to follow histogram hysteria (feel free to cast scorn upon me) but would rather produce an image with the "feeling" I want rather than chasing the perfect graph.
Although an amateur photography forum is always going to be a tough crowd technique wise !

But as always we return to personal preference, which I'm sure we could debate for millennia !

Can see the attraction if you do a lot of travelling & use internet cafes etc. but surely it's not that difficult to remove the SD card & put it in your reader.

My Bulldog Lilly, taken with the 10-17mm fisheye.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/suspiciouslilsmall.jpg[/IMG]

Now you're just showing off !

No time to set anything up for this comp, but luckily mother nature helped out...

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/frozenlane.jpg[/IMG]

Taken yesterday K20D, Tamron 28-75 f2.8 @ 28mm f6.7 1/500 iso100.