PALOUSE IR

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, folks, this is an image I took on Artie and Denise's scouting trip to the Palouse recently in anticipation of their Palouse workshops next year. The Palouse is amazing territory, rich in photo opportunities and lots of colorful fields of canola, wheat, grasses and wildflowers with an abundance of old houses and barns in fields just waiting to be photographed. I sat in the back seat the whole time and so I rarely knew where I was - I just hopped out when we found something that looked interesting. So, I have no idea where this old barn was located. We took some shots from the road (this is one) and when we went up the hill to take close-ups the owner (who was a very nice guy) told us we wouldn't be allowed to get near the barn because of insurance concerns. We talked for awhile and Artie, Denise and Lynn got some close-ups while we were chatting. My images were all from the road and I was using my Canon 30D which Life Pixels converted to a Deep black and white infrared camera for me several years ago. The prices have actually gone down for a conversion since I had mine converted and it's a great option for an older camera that you never get around to putting up for sale. I used Nik Color Efex Pro Detail Extractor to bring out some of the sky and barn details.
Canon 30D IR converted camera, Canon EFS 10-22 f/3.5-4.5USM @ 22mm, f/8, 1/50, ISO 200.
Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques welcome.:S3:

[Dvir Barkay]

Nice shot. I always like IR images, they are very unique. Did you try a perspective from a higher position? I ask, because for me there is a tad bit too much of the hill in the foreground. Also maybe a tad bit less sky. Nice overall :S3:

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Dvir. The road was pretty low compared to the barn. We didn't have much time but I could have put the 100-400 lens on and maybe climbed the bank on the other side of the road. I could see cropping some from the top - it just seems like that part of the country is so expansive (I know now why they call Montana "Big Sky Country")
that it felt right leaving it in:S3:

[Don Nelson]

This is the old schoolhouse located just west of the turnoff to Kamiak Butte on Fugate. I see the old truck frame is leaning there. Lots of great images across the valley as you are on the slope of the north side of the valley looking over at the Butte. There are quite a number of sloped rolling hills just to the south. There are quite a number of little tiny towns in the Palouse that never made it to small burg status - this is one of them.

I like the conversion you did with NIk - the tonalities on the wood really work well.

[Don Railton]

Hi Cheryl

The building looks great, nice tones, lots of character, well done. I like the curve of the crop edge as a lead to the building. An alternative crop might be to slice a bit of the top and LHS to tighten up on the building a bit more.

regards

DON

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Lovely shot of a building full of character (one of those where I wish the building could talk and tell me about its past)! :5

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Cheryl - Looks like it was a good scouting trip. I like the IR and the detail you have brought out. Personal preference for me would be not to have the clutter behind the building but there is nothing you could do about it. Looking forward to seeing more.

TFS,
Rachel

[dankearl]

I also think you were too low, but I like the starkness of the IR.
Maybe a bit more contrast in the sky?

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Cheryl, I like this one the way it is. I like the curve of the wheat crop on the right...if you were any higher this would be lost. I could see an alternate version that incorporates a pano crop though with about half of the sky cropped out. Seeing this makes me wish I didn't ditch my old Nikon D200...shoulda had it converted :S3:

[Diane Miller]

I love the tonalities and detail in the building and FG -- the similarities tie them together nicely. Rather than a crop, I'd consider a gradient burn from the top -- the "modern" burn where you have control over shadows and highlights separately, via Curves. As framed it shows the expansive setting very well.

Is there a tweak more detail to be found in the vegetation to the right?

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone for your comments. The 30D was just gathering dust so I'm really glad that I had it converted.:S3:

[Morkel Erasmus]

Missed this one Cheryl.
Love the feel here, though I too would have opted for a slightly higher angle and would like some more definition and contrast in the sky?