Prairie Window

I was out on the Pawnee Grasslands lat night and came upon this old schoolhouse. I was initially attracted to the texture of the peeling paint, then saw the prairie scene reflected in this window. There are very few of the dustbowl era one-room schoolhouses left.

LOVE ITI!!! as good as it is now, i'd also like to see it in black and white.

Really nice image, Dave. I wonder if the subjects in the reflection can actually be brought out a little.

Thanks - Yes TC, the details could be brought out by someone that actually knows what they're doing with P'shop CS!!!!

I agree about bringing out the reflection a bit. Otherwise, this is great. Thanks for sharing.

Dave, funny thing, but a few years ago I shot that same window. I liked it so much, that the photo is now framed and on my wall. For as much as a window can have, there is a lot of character there and I just like it. Your version is nice. Was there much green out that way? I've almost been toying with heading out to the grasslands some evening.

Roger, was the school about halfway between Ault and Briggsdale on the north side of 14? I'll have to find out the name.

It's not very green, but has that tawny, wheat color that is very complimentary with the blue sky. Lots of pronghorn, but not very many lark buntings (too dry?) I'd say the gold-colored grasses are worth a trip.

OK, I just did a quick lasso and some adjusting to the whole window/reflection- obviously the window grids don't look quite right. I do think the reflection looks better now.

I didn't notice it before, but some a**hole named Dave something-or-other graffitti'd the side of the building, just below and to the right of the window. What a shame. Kids these days...

If you made your lasso selection as a separate layer, just add a layer mask to it (with the layer active click the layer mask icon on the palette) and simply paint over the window grids with a small brush with black selected as the foreground color (hit "d" to change colors to default, and if black isn't on top, hit "x.") I'd also paint over the top half of the window completely, as you really don't need to lighten it, and the lighter clouds are actually a distraction.

That's what I'd do.

Dave, I believe the building is refered to as the Pleasant View Community Building. I had a detail map where it was marked but looked high and low and couldn't find the map. So we're pretty much counting on my old memory. I have a photo of the building in my NPN portfolio that was taken afer a big spring rain with a little rain pond in the scene. I've returned a few times but have not caught the same or decent light. I suppose there are two building with similar looking windows, but since I've looked at my framed photo for so long I'm pretty sure it's the same building.

I like Todd's suggestion on the bit of PS work and think you've got a pretty darned neat photo.

Super shot, Dave - lots of character. The version with the enhanced reflection works very well. Good eye!

Nice shot. Really like the detail.