B&W conversion of Abandoned home in Mammoth, UT

I have seen an earlier photograph of this particular abandoned building in Mammoth, UT taken several years ago and displayed on site showcasing ghost towns of Utah.  Time has not been kind to this home.  I especially liked the winter snowy setting and the B&W conversion.  Mammoth is in the Eastern Tintic mountains and this view shows the Tintic Valley and Western Tintic Mountains in the background.  The B&W conversion was done with SilverEfex Pro using a red pre-filter which enhances the contrast between the high cirrus clouds and blue sky.  The rustic nature of the old weathered wood is enhanced by increasing contrast. 

Even with the high clouds, the sunlight was very harsh at midday.  I did not have my tripod, so I could not image the dynamic range using High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging.  Instead, I shot in RAW and processed in NX2 utilizing the "highlight protection" feature to minimize blown highlights.  I made no attempt to recover detail from the darkest areas inside the house.  Finally, I did utilize the NX2 U-point feature to select and darken very slightly the snow in foreground. 

Male Turkey showing to rivals

There is a small farm near our home with several turkeys, and peacocks. 
Today, several of the male turkeys were near the roadside challenging one another with showy displays of their feathers.  I think that there were perhaps five males surrounding a single hen.  The image was taken with Nikkor F2.8 70-200 VRII on my D300.  Since the this particular bird has white and very dark (almost black) feathers, controlling exposure was critical in this setting with such harsh sunlight.  The objective was to to showcase the detail in both the dark and light feathers simultaneously.  The photograph was shot in RAW and processed in NX2, using the shadow and highlight protection tools to eliminate blown highlights and recover detail in the darker feathers.  The turkeys are a brief change from the photographs of Utah's abandoned shacks and buildings.  The Peacocks should be interesting with iridescent colors!

The Mammoth Mine in Mammoth Utah.  This mine located in the East Tintic Mountains just south of Eureka Utah was part of the Tintic area mining boom.  This photo was taken recently, March of 2010. Mammoth is a semi-ghost town.  People still live there, but the mine has been inactive for some time.

I chose a Sepia conversion of this image with vignetting to best show the mine head building.  The mine opening to the right is still open and is guarded by a fence since the mine shaft is over 1000 feet deep.

Abandoned Home in Stockton, UT - B&W

This home in Stockton, UT - Tooele County is shown with a monochrome conversion using Nik Silver Efex Pro using a red pre-filter. This close-in perspective shows the wonderful clouds in the winter day sky. With the red filter, the blue sky is darkened showing a large contrast between the clouds and blue sky. Its the clouds which, to me, give this photo emotional impact.

Old Sinclair Service Station - Elberta, UT

This old Service station is located on the main intersection of Elberta, Utah in Utah County. The building is picturesque in itself, but I chose a perspective from some distance away so that Mount Nebo looms over the structure. A closer perspective would emphasize the building itself but show the mountains in the background in the far distance. One of the objectives is to illustrate the imposing nature of Mount Nebo in the western valleys of Utah County

The winter setting adds to the beauty of the setting. In foliage the tree would obscure the building as well as hide the mountain in the background.

Abandoned Home in Faust, Utah

An abandoned home in Faust, Utah. It is located in the western deseret in far south western Utah county. The building is an old log cabin with a newer shake addition. To accentuate the building, a sepia tone conversion was done using Nik Silver Efex Pro with a vignetting effect to isolates the cabin from the surrounding scene.

Abandoned Home in Stockton Utah

Abandoned home near Stockton Utah in Tooele County, Utah. The location is off highway 36 just south of Tooele. Taken from a perspective which shows the Stansbury mountains in the background rising above the valley.

Abandoned Shed at the Camp Floyd State Park