Sorry, that wasn't your post, I was confused. My apologies.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed them. I always obtain permission. Three out of about ten times I've been denied, oh well. It pays to ask. Thanks again:)

Yes, I downloaded them but haven't had a chance to really study them yet. I should be able to have a look in just a bit though. I also replied to one of your topic posts:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-2526-1.html

I'm with you on that. I shoot a lot of everything, but I like the same kind of shots that you do the best too.

In my future postings I will include something that says that these are private properties and permission was obtained, it's too late to edit the original post. I agree that there are a lot of people that have no common sense. I'm glad you like the images and no hard feelings if any where implied in response:)

Both great shots. As far as the grain in the second one you can easily get rid of that. If you don't have Photoshop or Lightroom, both of which are very good at decreasing grain there is a freeware program that can take care of that without compromising the details if used carefully. Anything you do can also be undone on the spot. I used this program a lot until I got CS5 and Lightroom. The name of it is Noiseware and you want the "Community Edition" which is totally free (not a trial either). You do get a small box when opening it to purchase the pay version, but only when you first open it. The two buttons are: Purchase, or OK. Just click OK and it won't come up again until it opens fresh and it won't ever expire. The main things that you can't do with the free version are: batch process photos (no big deal), save exif data, (no big deal, but may be important to some), TIFF support (no big deal, but may be important to some). It's only for Windows, so if you're a MAC user you'll have to find something else. You can get it here: http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx and it's the last download on the page.

I ran your flower through it using the "stronger noise" option from the drop down and you can see it got rid of most of the grain. I uploaded the original and the filtered version so you could see them together. The stronger you go, the more detail that may be sacrificed.
Once you process it, you just click on the pic and it will show you what it looked like before. If you don't like it, just undo it. I would typically run grainy images through this first then do the rest of my editing, gaining back some of the details. If you do download it and have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Flower


Flower after Noiseware

Thank you, I appreciate your input.

I appreciate what you are saying and I don't condone trespassing by any means. There are groups known as "urban infiltrators" or "urban explorers" (URBEX) who's primary goal is to gain access to places that are off limits to the public, this is NOT what I do. I as both a Photographer and Paranormal Investigator have a moral obligation to request permission from the property owners to enter the said property. I have been denied access on several occasions and those are the places that I photograph from public property.

I NEVER go alone into any abandoned structure, we always have cell phones, first aid supplies, and face masks if we feel there is a risk of asbestos or any other contaminant. We've yet to run across anyone that may be a dangerous element in any of these places, but yes, it's a possibility. With a group of 5-10 people including an ex Marine and others with skills in the Martial Arts I really don't think there would be too much of a problem. Once inside a structure we stay together, no one goes anywhere alone.

If we are doing a night time Paranormal Investigation we have always explored the whole place in the daytime first to discover potential dangers. Yes, some of these structures have seen their better days and can be a safety risk.

There are many risks in life and they come in many forms. Yes, that roof could come down at anytime. Just as the car you're driving could be hit at anytime, the convenience store you're shopping at could be robbed at anytime, that gas grill you're lighting could blow up at anytime, etc.

On another note, the world as we know it could end at anytime. I've never been content to isolate myself, sit back and "what if" everything. When my time is up, I will know that I lived life to it's fullest and did the things I wanted to do, explored the places I wanted to explore, and took responsibility for my own actions.

You are entitled to your opinion as is everyone, but to ASSUME that I am out there trespassing on private property or breaking and entering is pretty harsh.

The only thing I am glorifying here is the art of Photography and the freedom of expression through the proper channels.

All the above mentioned programs are great. I have a stand alone program that is probably the easiest way to achieving this effect. This program is not a photo editor and is meant to be used after your photo has been "tweaked" elsewhere. You can download it right now for $14.95 and it works great. It's called Color Select Studio and you can find it here: http://www.magicsplash.com/ Here are a couple of images I used it on.

Color Select#1


Color Select#2

It looks like you're doing quite well with your settings. The soybean field is beautiful with the horizon line placed right where it should be, nice depth also. Nice composition on the bridge, you can never go wrong with angled lines. Very nice macro on the flower, nice lighting, excellent Bokeh. Wonderful job on all☺

Thanks you! Yes it is indeed, it would be my favorite of the bunch too☺

Good question and thanks for pointing that out. I never really noticed that before. That door is on a much older part of the house and what I believe was once the kitchen due to the furnishings. It was also somewhat separated from the main structure. The kitchen, in the old days, would often be a separate structure from the main house in case of a fire.

Thank you, very much appreciated! I love these old structures and they do somehow whisper "come photograph me". I like to capture what is left before it's gone forever.

It's a beautiful old farmhouse with many out buildings and even graves in the back. I believe it was built in 1866. Last I heard someone may have bought the old place. The last people who lived there only stayed six weeks due to strange occurrences. You are not far from it at all, about an hour or less.

Abandoned farmhouse in Covington, Indiana

I've never been but it does indeed sound very intriguing. Any place with alleged paranormal activity always sparks my interest. I say alleged because I first try to find the logical explanation, it can't always be done.