I re-worked this post from a previous one and updated the image. The first image is contrast management using the color channels. The second is simply desaturated with a little levels fiddling.
I tried to reproduce the level of contrast with simply tweaking the levels. As you can see, simply fiddling with the levels won’t produce the same kind of contrast that filtering the colors through channels will.
Note from previous post: You can’t get away with this kind of thing with a properly exposed digital image. I generally shoot anywhere from 2/3 to 1 stop underexposed at all times. This gives me a lot more headroom with highlights and bright spots without leaving everything irrevocably blown out.
