Signs of Spring - Edited

Just when it looked like spring had arrived, the weather forecasters are throwing a possible 4-8 inches of snow in the mix over the next two days.  Oh well, it is only the beginning of March.  And this is Pennsylvania.  It's just that when we got a few warmer spring-like days thrown in, after having such a snowy, cold winter, it really makes me long for sunshine and warmth.  Playing outside.  Breaking out the sprinkler.  Seeing God's beautiful colors everywhere.  {sigh}

Okay, so I guess I can wait a little longer.  In the meantime, these are the few signs of spring I found for this week's Shoot & Edit challenge ...

SOOC - daffodils

SOOC - bud

And here are my edits ...

All I did was some slight tweaking in Adobe Camera RAW.  Then I cropped, resized, and sharpened for web.  (I always do that, I just don't usually mention it.  But I thought I would this week since that is what Ashley's tutorial is about).  :)

For the bud picture, I bumped up the exposure and fill light, since the SOOC was more silhouette than I wanted, then increased the vibrance and saturation in RAW.  Then I cropped so that the bud was in the right spot (rule of thirds) but not so that I lost the natural bokeh from the sun.  Again, resized for web and sharpened.

Then just for fun, I added Paper Mama's bokeh texture.  I painted it off the bud/stem and turned the opacity down to about 50%, I think.

Again, for fun, I added SKC Photography's Old Paper texture and turned the opacity down to about 40%.  Again, removing the texture from the bud/stem.  (On a personal note, Sharon of SKC Photography could really use our prayers.  Please head over to her blog and read her two most recent posts.  The more people praying, the better!  Thank you!)


A big thanks goes out to Ashley and Jill again this week.  They are both wonderful teachers!   I have learned so much these past 9 weeks! 

Also linking up with Audrey's Texture Thursday.  The daffodil pic has natural texture and the added texture to the bud pics.

Tweet