Scavenger Hunt Sunday 10.27.13

Chilly weather has set in here in Western Pennsylvania and we even saw our first snow flakes this week.  I must admit I'm not ready for snow yet.  So I chose to stay indoors and keep warm while it was snowing instead of venturing out with my camera.  However Alex, Honey, and I did venture out one day this week and go for a short walk around the area.  (It wasn't snowing that day).  :)  I don't want to completely miss autumn because of busyness.

Anyway, on to the Scavenger Hunt ...

{change}

One of the things we saw on our walk was the neighbor's tree in the process of change from green to red.

{your mood today}

This is an outtake from a session with my sister-in-law and her two girls from last month.  Christi was apparently getting tired of having her picture taken.  :)  While I'm not really in a bad mood today, I am tired from going going going, and kinda feel like this lately when asked to do something.

{dark}

If you happen to be a fan of my facebook page, you already saw this.  If not, here's a link to my page.  (Kimberly Vensel Photography) I'd love for you to go give me a "like".  :)
During a senior photo session with Kourtney yesterday, one of the places we went to was an old train tunnel which is now part of the rails-to-trails bike trails in PA.  Normally I am drawn to light for photos and would not consider going into a dark tunnel to take pictures.  But we decided to give it a try and I'm glad we did.  I had my kids shine their flashlights on the back of Kourtney's head and this is the result.

{welcome}

Any kind of rainbow in the sky, like this sun dog, is always a welcome sight.  This was the second one we saw on this particular day.  I didn't get my camera out in time to capture the first one.  So God blessed me with another chance.

{depth of field}

Depth of field is something I love to play around with.  Experimenting with narrow DOF to deep.  And seeing what a difference it makes.

So that's it for me.  Gotta get back to processing more photos from the sessions I did recently.  Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to visit Ashley for more great Scavenger Hunt finds if you haven't already.

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Week 21 in Pictures

Another fun week!  I got to spend time with some girl friends during Craft Night and got a little of my Project Life book done ... we enjoyed Keira's spring concert ... Nick had his annual checkup and is growing like a weed - not that we needed a doctor to tell us that :) ... we planted more flowers ... we mowed more grass ... and we bought a new slip-n-slide to help the kids keep cool in our August-like weather.


School is almost out and the kids are counting down the days.  Alex has five days left, Keira and Nick have six.  (Alex goes to afternoon Kindergarten and since the last day is only a half day, he doesn't have to go - in case you were wondering.)  We're gearing up for Doug's work schedule to change ... and looking forward to it!  He will be steady daylight with most weekends off!  No more shift work!  Woo hoo!  We're also gearing up for our church's Vacation Bible School, which isn't until the end of June but will be here before we know it!


Anyway, let's take a look at last week's pics ...

{Sunday}

Me getting silly for the Scavenger Hunt.

{Monday}

This pesky squirrel, among others, keeps getting into my bird feeder.  As much as I dislike it stealing my bird food, I do admire its technique.  :)

{Tuesday}

Keira's Spring concert was this evening.  The orchestra sounded great!  I had Keira pose for me outside after the concert since it was too dark inside to get any good photos.

{Wednesday}

Doug and Alex bought some yellow roses for me.  I sprinkled water on them and took pictures.  :)

{Thursday}

The castle blocks I bought from Groupon finally arrived.  The boys, especially Alex, really enjoy playing with them.

{Friday}

"Life is just a bowl of cherries, don't take it serious, it's mysterious. Life is just a bowl of cherries, so live and laugh and laugh at love, love a laugh, laugh and love.
~ Bob Fosse

Doug bought cherries because he insists that I wrote them on the grocery list.  I didn't, but I'm glad he bought them because they were really good!

{Saturday}

We bought a new bubble machine and had some fun trying it out.  I was surprised at all the colors I was able to find in those bubbles!

          
One last thing ... my favorite photo from May ...I picked this one because it was something I wanted to do for a while but never got the chance.  And because I think it is fun!  :)

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Yellow Rose

Doug and Alex went grocery shopping Tuesday morning and brought back a bouquet of yellow roses for me.  For no reason.  Or maybe the reason is because they love me and they know how much I love flowers.  :)

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Shoot & Edit: Red Edited

Well, it is Thursday, and you know what that means.  Wait, you don't?  Thursday is the day I post my edited version of the SOOC photo I posted on Monday for the weekly Shoot & Edit Challenge.  Whew!  That was a long run on sentence!

This week's theme is red.  And here was my SOOC shot.   

 

A gold-dipped rose from my sweet husband.

I played around today and actually came up with 4 different edits.

Edit 1 ...

I just did basic editing here in Adobe Camera Raw.  Then adjusted the brightness/contrast a bit more and cropped.  Nothing fancy.

Edit 2 ...

All the prior edits plus I used Paint the Moon's Vanilla Pop action.

Edit 3 ...

Edit 2 plus I added SKC Photography's Antique Black and White Texture.  I find it interesting that this is how it turned out.  Not what I expected.  But I like it.

Edit 4 ...

Last edit ... same edits as edit #1, then ran Pioneer Woman's Slight Light action and added SKC Photography's Painted Pastel Texture.  I removed the texture from the rose pedals.  (I'm not sure what technique that is called).  :)

Here are all 4 edits for comparison.

I have really been enjoying learning a little more each week.  Thanks to Ashley for spoon feeding me some editing techniques that I can actually understand!  :)  Can't wait to come see what you've done!  Happy Thursday Everyone!

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Shoot & Edit: Red SOOC

It is time again for the Shoot & Edit challenge.  This week's theme is RED.  This is not the photo I had in mind for this, but things weren't working out for me to take that photo.  So you take what you can get, right?

You may remember my husband bought me this pink gold-dipped rose for Christmas this year.  When I opened it, I thought he had forgotten that a few years back he bought me the red rose pictured above.  Turns out, he didn't forget.  I think he's working on getting me a dozen.  :)

Anyway, in my quest for photographing something red for this week's challenge, I broke out the red gold-dipped rose.  I like how the SOOC shot turned out, so I'm excited to see what I can do in my edit.

For more red SOOC shots, hop on over to Jill's.  Even better, play along by linking up your red picture!

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