This Old House

[jjeling]

Went to take some pictures of my car at yesterday. As I was driving down the road, the leaves are off all the trees exposing an abandoned house. After, coming to a screeching halt, I pulled a u-turn and made my way onto the property. Thank god I own a Jeep because I would have never made it back there. It was a cool house that had not been touched in at least 10 years.

[jjeling]

Inside

[jjeling]

oustide

[kat]

Can I ask what lens you used? I'm just wondering how you got that softness to the photos!!! :)

[jjeling]

Well....First off I used my Sony with a sony 18-70 lens. It is not the lens that produced the softness, but the PP. Images like this work well in B&W, but I didnt want the usual conversion. With so much character, the images converted straight to B&W did not give off the feeling I wanted. Since the house is just down the road and it is not going anywhere anytime soon, this is not going to be the only visit there. It is a good place for some HDR shots as well. Could easily spend an entire day there.

[kiley9806]

lol - by the looks of that toilet, its been untouched for longer than 10 years!!

[Mad Aussie]

lol - by the looks of that toilet, its been untouched for longer than 10 years!!
No .. JJ just never cleans up http://www.mtbdirt.com.au/home/smf/Smileys/classic/searchme.gif

Nice expose' of the old house there JJ. I like the soft touch you've given it too.

[tirediron]

Lovely series! Well done.

[tomorrowstreasures]

JJ - I too really like this series! Well done! May I ask what PP technique you used for the glow? was it picasa's glow? I use that one often because i love the effect, but since i am getting more into ps, i was wondering how to do it there if you used it there or even psp.

[jjeling]

There are several ways to do it. Ive been using photoshop for the past 5 years so I cant really say anythign for other software programs. On ATNcentral.com there are a a couple hundred free plugins for photoshop. The one I use is Dave's Orton Effect. After I ran the plugin I just converted to black and white. On the last one, I adjusted the opacity of the last layer so I could still get a little of the green to show through. This is just a shortcut to the actual process.
You can also use the gaussian blur or any other blur for that matter, then select the method you wish to overlay the new layer on, adjust opacity and get the same, or different effect if you desire.
This works for somethings and doesnt for others. It gives images an HDR-ish look but is not really HDR. It boosts the color and contrast of images, but also adds softness to them, all of which can be adjusted individually.

[tomorrowstreasures]

thanks for the response, JJ! :) I will check into that!

[JAS_Photo]

I like these a lot. The contrasty, glowishness reminds me of some IR images.

[Ben H]

Yeah - it's a technique I use quite a bit (actually haven't for a while, but definitely over-used it a lot before). You dupe the layer, convert the top one to black and white, gaussian blur it quite a bit, then change the blend mode to overlay (or whatever works for you best).

I have this set up as a Photoshop action, so when I think a picture might work, I just have to press and key and PS does it.

It's also quite a nice effect on video as well...

[jjeling]

I went back to the house a couple days ago. Boy this place is nice. Will be going back this spring and summer to capture the different feelings of the house.

[jjeling]

These were my favorites of the bunch

[jjeling]

The rest of them. I would have spent more time outside but it wasn't my property and a trespassing charge is the last thing I need. It is pretty well concealed from the street but it is impossible to see it in the summer so Ill be back then.

[jjeling]

Last one

[Marko]

Very nice series JJ :highfive: I dig many of these shots, especially the ones from post #3

[Mad Aussie]

I like many as well. The selective colour treatment in post 15 works for me too.

[jjeling]

Thanks for everyone's response to this thread so far. Today, the time has come for me to let go of this house. As my worst fears had come true, I was confronted by two police officers after an anonymous phone call from someone concerned about the person inside this abandoned house(ME??!?!?!). They asked what I was doing and with my camera and tripod I responded taking pictures. Well, they asked me to leave so they would not have to charge me with trespassing. It was an unfortunate event, but I knew it was coming. I was there for about 20 minutes today and was able to get these last final pictures. They will probably be the last pictures of the house someone will ever take, unless I can get permission to go back again. Without any visible street address, it will be difficult identify but I will try. My apologies for posting so many here in this thread, but it will be the last time I will post here since I cannot go back. More of a memorial type thing. :D

This is the front door/living room
I call this one "Welcome"

[jjeling]

The kitchen is a mess. Anyone....

"thirsty" :yuck:

[jjeling]

While taking the pictures, I was thinking about all the memories someone had in the house. There was nothing left in the living room except for a ladder. In the bathroom there were still toiletries in the cabinet. The masterbedroom was in complete shambles. Two walls were missing, and a shelf was laying on the ground. Another thing I noticed was the record player. It really made me wonder if the listened to music or not. We all know people play music in the bedroom. However, it was just left there to fall apart in the house where it would not get used again. Maybe it didn't work, maybe it did. It just left me wondering, why? :confused:

"listen"

[jjeling]

The backdoor

"goodbye"

[Mad Aussie]

Tell the cops I said to go find real criminals and stop wasting time. Trespassing? Only if the owner pressed charges I would imagine ... and that appears unlikely.

You'd think the camera and tripod would be enough of a clue for both cops and the caller.

Oh well ... they are way too late ... you have lots of nice photos and I think you've run your course there anyhow now.

[GregL]

Great set of shots jjeling. You've really captured the house and given it a great send off. I'm sure it was sitting there thinking 'no one will look at me again" but you've brought it back to life, at least for us and others who look at your series. Thanks