Need help with attached image

[Goatsmilkuk]

I am trying to get a contrasting image of a giraffe from a colour one I took this year, I have done some dodge and burn after converting to B&W along with using levels to get the contrast up.

I am happy with the botom half but the top half just does not look right, I have tried dodge and burn but I have got to the point where it looks overworked and has too much texture and seems to draw the eye up.

Can anyone give me some pointers on where I'm going wrong please?

Ta

Stu

[lumix]

Re: Need help with attached image

Stu I have had a play with this and found that if you shift the black point in the histogram so that it touches the true black point, then reduce the overall contrast, it looks OK.