It’s not very often that I allow myself the opportunity to photograph abandoned buildings. I’m the type who prefers to avoid the whole trespassing conundrum that oftentimes surrounds this genre of photography. However, when I had the chance to photograph this old abandoned sugar mill on the Big Island of Hawaii, I went in feet first!

This building is relatively open; there was no fence-hopping, no signs … so I felt safe walking right on in. The outside was pretty spectacular as well, especially with the amazing rain clouds we had been seeing during our stay. Inside it was a big open room, with a few smaller rooms behind that looked like they had seen better days.

I processed this image as an HDR using Lightroom & Photoshop and then pulled it into onOne Software’s Perfect Effects to add some stylization (along with the subtle tilt-shifty blur effect in the background).

 

It’s not very often that I allow myself the opportunity to photograph abandoned buildings. I’m the type who prefers to avoid the whole trespassing conundrum that oftentimes surrounds this genre of photography. However, when I had the chance to photograph this old abandoned sugar mill on the Big Island of Hawaii, I went in feet first!

This building is relatively open; there was no fence-hopping, no signs … so I felt safe walking right on in. The outside was pretty spectacular as well, especially with the amazing rain clouds we had been seeing during our stay. Inside it was a big open room, with a few smaller rooms behind that looked like they had seen better days.

I processed this image as an HDR using Lightroom & Photoshop and then pulled it into onOne Software’s Perfect Effects to add some stylization (along with the subtle tilt-shifty blur effect in the background).

 

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

5 Comments

  1. David Peterson January 27, 2014 at 1:11 pm - Reply

    Nicole
    There is an abandoned sugar mill on Kaua’i near Koloa that you should see. Unfortunately, you can’t go inside. But the outside views are fairly dramatic with a mountain background. I could email you a couple of images if you are interested.

  2. Rich Pinder January 28, 2014 at 9:44 am - Reply

    David… I too wondered about getting access to that mill on my recent trip – bet it’d be great fun !
    ( pic : http://www-hsc.usc.edu/~rpinder/Hawaii2013/images/DSC01881.jpg )

    Nicole – regarding the email promotion about your PreSet package – forgive me if I’m missing it, but is there any way to get a better feel for what your group of 42 do ? is there any way you might post that proofing sheet of before /after ?? (or at least of one in each category or type of preset you’ve created ??)

    Thanks
    Rich

  3. reymart Del Rosario September 7, 2015 at 2:14 pm - Reply

    hey nicole, i would love to please please know the location of this and how to get there. i live on the big island and this would be a perfect place to do a shoot. please email me at reymartdel@hotmail.com. thank you very very very much. mahalo

    • Nicole S. Young September 7, 2015 at 2:59 pm - Reply

      Hi Reymart, here are the GPS coordinates, this should get you there: 19°11’52” N 155°28’34” W

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