Sometimes I Can't Help Myself

Last week I took the kids to the park after lunch. This is a cool park with a playground, walking paths, a pond and bridges, so we always enjoy going there. It was a fairly brisk day with the wind, and I was hunkered down on the park bench trying to keep warm while watching the kids play some imaginary game that burned off some energy.

I happened to look up over to my left and saw this magnificent tree without it's leaves. The sky was a bit overcast, and the sun was trying to shine through. I tried returning my gaze to the kids having fun, but I had already formed the photo of the tree in my mind, so I had to pull the camera out of the bag (which was sitting next to me, of course). Miraculous though it be, I do occasionally take photos of a subject other than my children. :-). Not to worry, we went on a little hike after they got tired of playing, so I got photos of them, one of which may become our Christmas card photo. ;-D


Here's shot #1 straight out of the camera. Not bad, but not spectacular.


Here's the same photo after I enhanced it in Photoshop. Definitely has that sunset feel to it, no?



Never content to leave my camera settings alone, I opted to switch the white balance to fluorescent because I learned a few years ago (from playing around with it) that it cools the colors for a wintery feel. Here's the photo straight out of the camera. Again, not bad, but not spectacular:



And here's the same photo after it encountered Photoshop. It's gone from a daytime to nighttime photo (I really like this one the best too).



I'm glad that sometimes I can't stop myself from taking photos. Sometimes it's worth it to drag the camera around with me everywhere we go.