Hello Bob
NIK silver efex is an excellent plugin. Converting a color RGB image to b&w is the best way to go. The scene is pleasant with a nice grouping of elements. The buoy in the foreground, the lighthouse on the left vertical third. A little implied action from the waves breaking on the shore. You said you were just starting out with the software. You will find it is very flexible. One thing that can change things greatly are the color filters in the right hand panel. The default is no filter but if you click on the various color filters they will behave like the old color filters did when shooting b&w film. Red will darken blue skies, green with lighten green foliage etc. Suggestions for this image. I find it a touch flat and muddy. The histogram shows it is. If you add a levels layer and click auto it will add some snap. You can do the corrections in silver efex too. I think it would be improved if you cropped a bit of the sky out. That brings the horizon closer to the upper horizontal thirds line. I did some quick edits, brightened, dodged and burned, and sharpened a bit. Posted it here as an example of what I mean.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69407470@N06/8238992865/in/photostream
Cheers
Greg
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