Balboa Park B&W

so I took this shot of a building in balboa park (san diego, ca) and it is nothing special.
so I thought I would play with PP and see what it could be. It seemed the bw and more brooding sky suited the building better.
C&C welcome.

original

wow, really nice PP! i should go there to test out my new lenses.. im from san elijo north sd..

The B&W version is definitely more dynamic and dramatic. Maybe the fact that the image is larger also helps create that feeling. Of course there are completely different clouds in each shot. Did you extract them from another photo for the B&W image?

Yeah, I love balboa park. There's a lot of cool architecture. It's very crowded on weekends though. I was there myself today.

N/A wrote in post #9885183
The B&W version is definitely more dynamic and dramatic. Maybe the fact that the image is larger also helps create that feeling. Of course there are completely different clouds in each shot. Did you extract them from another photo for the B&W image?

yes the clouds are from a sunset picture. I just extracted the building and laid it over the new background then de-saturated.

ratempa wrote in post #9885321
Yeah, I love balboa park. There's a lot of cool architecture. It's very crowded on weekends though. I was there myself today.

I always avoided balboa park due to the crowds, but since having a kid and getting into photography I am really enjoying the place. There is a lot to see and shoot there.

here is the shot before being desaturated. it was a bit too "hellish" for my tastes.

I agree on the demonic-like red, MM.

You do great PP work though!

N/A wrote in post #9891134
I agree on the demonic-like red, MM.

You do great PP work though!

thanks I appreciate it.
I am just learning new tricks. I downloaded the extraction tool for CS4 and was playing with that. It was a lot easier than a manual cut out. The PP on this was actually pretty easy and quick.

The PP on the B&W is fantastic -- it really add character to the build great job. Did you do anything else other than desaturate to get this kind of B&W shot?

Tigran wrote in post #9904442
The PP on the B&W is fantastic -- it really add character to the build great job. Did you do anything else other than desaturate to get this kind of B&W shot?

thanks a lot.
I did bump the contrast because when I just desaturated it, it lost some definition. So just a touch of contrast gave it more "bite".

thanks again.