Heirloom Strawberries.

The last few days I had been searching and trying to come up with inspiration for Artistically Amy's Color Splash Sunday. This weeks theme was a building. It shouldn't be difficult. Right? Well, I looked through my photos and looked everywhere I went for inspiration. To no avail. The inspiration hit me about 30 minutes after the link closed. Go figure. The funny thing is I had tried a different photo from this group of photos from our trip down the road to pick strawberries, and couldn't get it to where I liked it.

Even though the challenge was over, I had to still see this vision out. I use the challenges as sparks for my imagination. When a creative idea sparks you should fan the flames of creativity. Besides Thursday was coming up, and with it the before and after challenge. Oh, I think I may be developing a challenge habit.

This is the original shot with some minor cropping.

I thinks its a cute snapshot. I like Sage in the foreground and the clean lines of the rows of strawberries running back to the barn. I just wondered what it would look using the selective colors.

Besides the obvious selective coloring I also tweaked the basic settings of contrast, exposure and sharpness. I added a bit of vignetting, color brightening, and a bit of sepia tones. Then finished if off with a touch or orton-ish and a touch of focal softening on my son.

This was such a quiet moment with him. We don't get them much. He's like a little hummingbird he buzzes around until he run out of gas then he brings me his cup and asks for juice.

If you want to see other great before and after photos, by other wonderful photographers check out Pixel Perfects