Help Needed with B/W

[GliderPilot]

I took a trip to Halifax last summer to see the Tallships and decided to try my hand at black and white photography. The shots didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted them to. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

[GliderPilot]

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. To me those shots look like someone's scrapbook shots. They just don't seem to show the ships the way I wanted to show them.

 

[Digital Matt]

You can start by giving them more contrast.

 

[DocFrankenstein]

You can start by giving them more contrast.

I second that. It also seems you've underexposed the first shot... either in printing or in camera

 

[SLOShooter]

Contrast is definatly lacking in the first and could help them both.

 

[joeboot]

The first one needs contrast help now. I think the second one is exposed/printed well (I personally like black and white more contrasty), but there is just too much clutter. The buildings would show better if there wasn't a rope-covered monster in front of them and the ship would look better if it had a blank sky or plain warehouse behind it.