Part A: I started with this photo I took of a lovely tree in Hawaii.
I went through the different Black & White presets and I really liked the tonal quality of hte photo using the “Yellow Filter.”
Here are my dodge and burn results! I dodged around parts of the tree trunk and leaves, then burned the shadows so I could increase the contrast. 
Part B: Here’s the alpha channel I created from a photo of my husband in a shirt I love. 