Something A Little Different

I had a good time re-working some old images last night, so I dug even further back tonight. This is an image I took while visiting Southern Alberta for my grandfather's funeral back in 2010. I tried a couple of different processes for converting to black and white, but I just couldn't find one that was quite right. The process I've been playing with starts by using the Nik HDR plugin to boost contrast and colors. I then use Nik Silver Efex for the B&W conversion. Like I said, I just couldn't get it quite right, so I tried Topaz B&W. It was getting better, but still not what I was looking for. As I was flipping through the options in the Topaz filter, I happened to click on the painterly filter. A few tweaks in Topaz, followed by a B&W conversion in Silver Efex was all it took. I had what I was looking for, even though it's not what I had in mind when I started out.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV - EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
1/500 - f/4.5 - ISO 100 - 153 mm