Convent School - Val Jalbert Ghost Town

[Manfred M]

This is the former Convent School at Val Jalbert, a ghost town in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada.

The town was built around a pulp mill that used a mechanical pulping process and when that process was replaced by more modern chemical pulping, its markets dried up and the town was abandoned in 1927. The nuns in the convent school stuck around fro a few more years and left for good in 1929.

It became a park in the 1960s and restoration work preserved some 70 of the original buildings, making this the largest ghost town in Canada.

I had posted a B&W version of this image some three years ago and have reworked it in colour today. The original is posted here: Ghost Town - Val Jalbert

[DanK]

An interesting capture, but if it were mine, I would apply a slight boost to midtone contrast, while anchoring the shadows and highlights, using luminosity blending. the building has interesting detail that doesn't stand our much in this version.

I think the issue is larger in the B&W version, which has areas of high contrast, e.g., the hostas lining the path, that are much stronger than contrast within the building.

[Manfred M]

Thanks Dan - I had actually done both your suggestions, but fairly subtlety, so went back and pushed both settings a bit harder.

It was absolutely pouring out while we were visiting. I had a large golf umbrella in one hand and the camera in the other taking these shots. At a 14mm focal length, some of the water drops on the camera had to be retouched out.

It was very dark and overcast with very flat lighting. I was trying to retain that look and feel in the image. Pushing both the mid-tone contrast and the mid-tone luminosity layer a bit harder gives me this.