Thanks Ed for the encouragement. Yes, you guys are really helping me a lot. I very much appreciate the time and effort. Long way to go, but that is the fun of it anyway. I attempted to replicate what you did (attached). Here is what I did to attempt to replicate your version which I like best of all:
Selected all but yellow lines: -100 Saturation; Color temp shift cooler
Selected yellow lines: Saturation +33; Color temp warmer
Global: +19 Contrast; -50 blacks
Is this an OK way to do it or is there a better way? Thanks again, -t
Hi Todd, no problem. Nice to see someone getting better and better in real time.
Keep in mind that the adjustments I made were to a low res jpeg, not a high res original RAW file so my attempt was cruder than yours, just to demo an effect. I can't remember the adjustments I made exactly but your approach of painting a mask for the yellow lines and adjusting saturation etc is the right way to go and pretty much what I did.
If you want a slightly different BW effect more similar to my rendering which is a bit more "gritty" then you could try upping the clarity - from experience I can say that BW images can take a lot more clarity than the colour versions. And if you like then dive into to the tone curve to increase contrast still further. If you want to change the toning then you can always use the luminance sliders in the HSL panel, they will still work even if your image is completely desaturated (I didn't bother to do this on your image but you can do this if you want).
What I also did is apply a split toning "recipe" of my own which I use on most BW images - 50 Highlights / 15 saturation, 250 Darks / 15 saturation, balance to taste. Then add a bit of grain. This gives the image a different look. You may or may not like this but I would certainly encourage you to experiment with split toning but always keep it subtle. It is one of those LR tricks which can completely lift an image.
Kind Regards
Ed
ps I see that the thingumibob to the left of the central-right telegraph pole has come out yellow, as has the bottom of the pole. Mistake? Or intent?
EDIT pps: My 13 year old daughter just walked into my study, saw your image on my #2 monitor, and said "oh wow". So you have a vote of confidence! She seemed rather disappointed when I told her it was not my image.