Black and white conversion process

I occasionally get asked to share my black and white conversion process for shots like these...







For a convenient reference this is the process I normally use:

Shoot Raw
Shooting RAW gives a much better range of tonality to work with

Import as 16 bit image
Import using Camera Raw. The default is 8 bit, have to change the option. This will give a Big (~50mb) PSD file!

Adjustment layers
Make adjustment layers for levels and curves. I use an "S" shape curve to increase the contrast without blowing the highlights

Channel Mixer (B+W conversion)
Make another adjustment layer for the Channel Mixer, and fiddle around with the sliders (RGB values) until it looks "kind-of" right. This is the Mystery in the Craft!! So long as the sliders add to 100, feel free to experiment. To darken the sky, try starting with Blue at -50, Red at 100 and Green at 50.

Tweaks
Go back to the original Levels and Curves layers and tweak them to taste!
Also, some selective dodging and burning may occasionally need to be done to the background layer. Go very carefully with this, it's easy to overcook it and get something that looks false and obviously "photoshopped"

Vignette layer
This adds a little more mood to the photo. Create a levels adjustment layer and accept the default level presets. then using the elliptical marquee, select from one corner to the diagonal opposite. Then, Feather the selection by 150 pixels and press delete. After that, you can go back into the levels and play with the black and whitepoint to get the vignette effect. Don't overcook it!