A little sprinkler action in the summertime!

I took this picture yesterday afternoon and was happy to get a clear one of the sprinkler with all the water cascading around. The sun was right, the grass was green, it was perfect.

Then I started in on some edits...

I love the edginess (is that a word?) of this black and white one. With the darker edges and crisp contrast, it just made me proud ;)!

This one I just kept the sprinkler and a little water clear, increased the contrast and blurred the edges, I love this one too.

Both of my edits, in my opinion, were great improvments on the original picture. Of course for both I was using the coffeeshop actions I had downloaded for use in my Photoshop Elements. They work great and I think look perfect. What great fun!!!!

My Beautiful Children!

I have to claim them as beautiful because they are my very own! I don’t “have” to, it is my honor to claim them! I love them and I am so thankful that they are all mine! I snapped these pictures of them when I was outside yesterday taking pictures of my flowers. I think that they are indeed more beautiful than all the amazing flowers in our world! Well the bright blues and the greens, they are just a bonus!

Engagement Photos

I had my very first opportunity to do an engagement photo shoot. I had a blast taking my neice Andrea and her fiance Arnold's pictures and they were more than willing to play along with my whims. Here is just one of the many pictures I took of them. Honestly, they were the most photogenic people I have ever taken photos of...what a fun treat!!! In regards to color....yeah, it was a gorgeous day and the great sky with the spring greens were the perfect back drop!

Still in pursuit of spring!

I was outside cleaning out my flower beds and finding the little signs of spring popping out of the ground. It puts such a smile on my face to see to see the fresh plants growing! I have always loved Hostas too and was excited to see them growing up. We haven't had much rain here in my town (once in the past 2 weeks) so the grass is just now starting to green up.

I think another wonderful thing about plants and trees are that not all things are indeed created equal. I have a number of shrubs that have red or burgundy colored leaves (my maple tree and ninebark shrub are included with this). It is so wonderful to have many different colors to appreciate outside! This one above is the new buds for my Flowering Crab Tree. I can't wait until she is in full bloom within the next few weeks!

The Great Outdoors

I beleive that I am going to have to keep going back to the new life growing up around us this spring for color inspiration. I know that there is till lots and lots of drab all over, BUT, if you look really closely you can find little sprouts on the trees and some green grass coming in too....look, really look, it is worth it!

I have also noticed that not only is the grass growing in, but there is green moss growing on the trees, even the dead ones. It is fun to try and capture color now as spring is drifting in. I think we would have even more, but the April showers haven't really arrived yet. We keep being threatened with rain, but I have yet to see a shower arive.

So in the mean time, I will enjoy the sprouts of grass that are in the property behind us and the moss on the trees on the walking path near us. I am thankful that we have some outdoors to enjoy while we wait for summer to come!