Spooky House

Fab find !

This is a fabulous old house, but I think your processing has worked against your intention of making it "spooky." The brightness, plus super saturated green grass and blue sky all imply a "happy" and a pleasantly inviting environment.
However, the house certainly does have the characteristics of a haunted house, and I think I would go there with the processing: Start over with the RAW file, get rid of all the saturated colors, in fact, desaturate it down to almost b&w, or even all the way to b&w, add a bunch of grit, darken it, pump up the contrast, then perhaps add a Dragonizing effect, and I think you would have the makings of a truly spooky house.

Michael- I guess I should have changed the title for the saturated version- here is the B&W version that I had in mind when I first composed the shot.

Bob - You're on the right track, but it still does not evoke the feeling of a "spooky" or haunted house. I think part of the issue is still the sky. Even in b&w, it is too bright, and for want of a better term, a "happy" sky. Now, I'm only presuming that you want a scary house, simply by your choice of titles.
If so, I think you need to figure out a way to make that sky much more ominous and/or threatening. And the house, itself, needs to be more gritty. Maybe more contrast, more tonal separation, I just don't know. But I know that your image, the subject matter, and the fine composition is worth the effort to experiment as much as possible.
That said, it would also make a fine portrait of a very old, but interesting structure. Perhaps you could go down the road of making the image look more antiquated. Still needs some drama though, but I can see in the b&w version where this concept could be quite doable. You've got a fine shot here. As Tony Kuyper has said in the past - sometimes you've got to allow the image to lead you, rather than forcing something out of it. It's definitely got something to say, and hopefully, it will come out.
I might even suggest, if possible, to revisit the house under a more overcast, and possibly threatening sky. I see you're from AZ, and the house is in Idaho, so that may not be a possibility.

Actually, I like the saturated version for spookiness. The juxtaposition of the decrepit house and the cheery colors is a subtler version of spookiness than the black and white, almost as if the horror will be revealed an instant after the cheery has worn off!

I like the b/w version, the sky is still to bright and you've got numerous dust spots. Really cool old house.

Thanks Michael & Gary,

I re-visited the b/w and did a selection of the sky and made it much darker- it made a big difference as to the mood. Thanks and I will do some more work on it as time permits.

All in all, I like the b&w version best. It seems to bring out the clouds a bit more for one thing.


Kent in SD

I really like the subject and the composition. Both versions have merits, but my personal preference is to see these old guys in B&W, so I appreciate the repost even more. Nice job Bob.

I thought that building looked like the one in Ovid! I have been past it many, many times - photographed it a couple too. Nice photo Bob.

Nathan