Hi Theresa, I hope you didn't mind I gave that picture a try in Photoshop as well. (I am not trying to compete so I wont you wont be insulted or anything ).

I just wanted to show you guys what I meant. The red sweater really pulled James to the front as the eye-catcher. But in B&W that was gone and the rest of the picture was too busy now. So I selected the background and made it a bit more faded (suggesting a smaller depth of focus or whatever that's called in English) and made the foreground (James and his wall) a bit more contrasted, but without removing the more subtle nuances from his face.

image

Or at least that is what I meant to do..