Original thread: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=11253389

As in all BW conversions, Your Mileage May Vary !!!

I thought the shoulders and the hair were distracting away from the face (since nothing else in the image is of primary interest). Hence

1. Cropped to show symmetry (maybe that could be an interest)
2. sharpened and increase local contrast
3. Burned around lips and hands (hands were too bright before relative to the face)
4. burned ever so lightly around eyes
5. Brought out texture in face by curves
6. Added a very slight golden color tint (select highlights, create new solid color layer with highlights as layer mask, set mode to color, opacity to 9%)