It was a number of years ago when Google had their G+ site up and running where I first came across some photographers who were processing black and white images in such a way similar to the one you see above. That is, one black and white image that had such a large dynamic range between black blacks and bright whites. On a side note, G+ was a great community for photographers to share their images and make a few virtual connections. It was sad to see it go by the wayside.
Normally, a desaturated colour image, with some additional contrast added, still left you with a black and white image with many shades of gray. One of these photographers that I was following through G+ was Julia Anna Gospodarou. One of her series in particular, she called "Like a Harp's Strings", was a series of images of the Calatrava Bridge in Athens, Greece. You can see one of those images here. I kept thinking to myself, "how did she do that?". So, I began reading blogs, trying to learn and understand about how such an effect could be achieved. From that learning, I found a way forward.
There are likely more than one way to achieve the effect I was looking for but, for me, it involved at least three layers and using layer masks in post-processing. After taking one picture like the one you see above, I make at least three copies. One copy is processed as a high key monochrome image. One copy is processed as a low key monochrome image and the third copy is a neutral monochrome image. These three copies are then loaded as layers in post-processing software like Photoshop (in my case, I use the open source GIMP software). Next, layer masks are created depending on where you want the light to fall. This is the artistry involved in post-processing. You get to choose where you want the light to be and where you want the shadows to fall. In the end and merging all these layers together, you end up with the image you see above.
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