Hover over the image to see the BEFORE version
Even though it might not look like it, the processing of this shot took me quiet a while.
Processing
I started with intensifying the contrast of the image as a whole in Camera Raw, partly using the contrast slider and partly through creating an S-curve in the curves box.
After opening the image in photoshop I converted it into Black and White using the BW-adjustment layer and intensified the contrast again using curves adjustment layer (S-Curve).
The the most time consuming part of the process began.
I wanted to get rid of all the graffiti in the image, to get a more timeless look and because it distracted the attention of the foreground.
I did this completely using the clone stamp.
It took me about an hour to do it.
I could have done it faster, but I wanted to preserve the structure of the wall, which made it necessary to use a very small brush size.
In the end I used dodge and burn to darken the shadows even more and added a vignette using curves with a mask.
Thats it. I like the result a lot, especially the nice combination of the back- and foreground.
Yours