oops I do see the green fringing now.... Ugh, have to fix that!

Thank you for taking the time to comment Peter. As usual your comments are very constructive. I can't seem to locate the green and magenta fringing that you have pointed out even when zooming in. I thought I had corrected for it in the software. I will have to take a closer look once I can get into my archives (I am traveling right now and don't have my external hard drive connected to my computer). I did realize that the building was just a tad bit off and had adjusted that already after posting this originally. I really do appreciate the time you take to give your feedback. Thanks again!

Looking through some archived images to rework. We're heading into winter here in the northeast and wanted something with snow. This is a 3 bracketed exposure at -2, 0, +2 processed in Niks HDR Efex Pro 2 and then reimported into Lightroom for a little fine tuning.

Mt Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, NH

I am not certain as to what you mean by black cross but if you stack your ND filters onto a wide angle lens you will get the vignetting all the time.

Congratulations on your purchase but just one warning. If you are going to be using this filter on your 10-20mm lens you will probably see some vignetting in your images at the widest angle. You might want to test this out quickly and if it is problematic I recommend you return it and buy yourself a couple of graduated ND filters (4x4 or 4x6). You'll need a filter folder and a lens adapter ring but you will find that you will spend less money for all three than you did on one circular ND filter (and no vignetting). The other option is to buy a slim circular ND filter. The only problem with these is your lens cap will no longer fit. They do come with a lens cover but they always fall off.

nice image; perfect subject matter for HDR

I just bought the Epson Stylus Photo R3000 and love it! If you order from B&H before December 31st you can get a $200 mail in rebate. The cost of the printer is $769. The printer can print on sheet paper up to 13 x 19" in size. It also accepts both sheet and roll paper, supporting prints as large as 13 x 44"!

The Stylus uses Epson's UltraChrome K3 ink system, which features their exclusive Vivid Magenta pigment-based ink. It also features multiple types of black ink. This allows the printer to reproduce both stunning color and black-and-white images.

The printer uses an individual ink cartridge for each color, allowing you to replace them as needed. Each high-capacity cartridge holds 25.9ml of ink -- more than a standard cartridge -- ensuring that you'll have to change them less often.

Here is the link
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/750952-REG/Epson_C11CA86201_Stylus_Photo_R3000_Inkjet.html

Jane, hopefully I can help guide you into making the right decision. I own the Lee 0.6 and 0.9 graduated ND filters and use them quite often. Both my filters have a hard edge because I use these predominantly when shooting sunrise and sunset on the ocean; I always have a horizon line. The other reason why I use the filters as opposed to processing with the ND filter in Lightroom is because the filters give me the ability to slow down the shutter speed enough to get that soft, milky flowing water. If I were to not use a filter then I wouldn't be able to achieve the same effect with the grad filter in Lightroom. I can tone down the sky and bring out the foreground but you can't slow down the water.

You also may want to change your white balance to Tungsten

Thank you all for your kind comments. Dryart, I shoot in color myself and then convert to B&W PP. I use predominantly Lightroom 4 and Nik's Silver Efex Pro.

You're welcome and best of luck to you! Remember to look for texture and contrast and you'll do just fine :-)

There are days when I specifically go out shooting with B&W in my mind; this time of year especially (winter). We're now into stick season and its a great time to be focusing on B&W and if you have new fresh snow, even better.

The other area that is great for B&W is night photography. When I photograph buildings I tend to convert most of my images to B&W because the color is not as pronounced at night.

I recently dedicated an entire weekend in Boston and Cape Ann to B&W photography. Here are a few images from that weekend.

Beacon Hill


Beacon Hill Alleyway


Rockport Massachusetts

You will definitely want to overexpose by 1 to 1+1/2 stops. here is a link to a quick reference to photographing snow scenes.

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/photography-tips-for-snow-scenes-and-storms/

Here is my contribution:
1. 3-D bubble level
2. diffusers/reflectors
3. pocket rocket
4. flashlight or headlamp
5. CF or SD cards
6. multi-media card reader
7. Membership to NAPP
8. Monitor calibrator
9. software: Photomatix, anything from the Nik's suite; anything from the Topaz suite
10. graduated ND filters
11. Black Rapid strap
12. Rain Covers

Thank you logos... how kind of you to say.