Usually on Labor Day, I go up the mountain with my family.  We cook a huge breakfast, go on jeep rides, eat goodies, visit with loved ones, share memories and create new ones.  This is the first year I could not go.  Being in Denver, I thought about my family all day.  They are probably having breakfast now.  They are probably making sandwiches and getting ready for an afternoon ride.  I wonder where they will ride to this year?

Luckily my sweet husband took me out of the house and we did a little exploring here.  We went to a park and had a little picnic,and I brought my camera along.  I was really looking to get some bright colors in these pictures.  I wish I would have dressed Jordyn in something more solid and bright, but this dress is still one of my favorite anyway.  Also, it was early in the afternoon so the light was really harsh.  But oh well.





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Naturally, the light was coming from the top and left here.  I did a spotlight coming from the bottom right with the idea of trying to brighten up the dark shadows.  It was a little successful.  I took a lot of pictures with her playing here, but they were mostly taken from an above angle, and I could tell as I was taking them that they were nothing special.  When I bent down and got low, I could tell this one would be better.  I could see the blue sky and the green trees as opposed to the wacky colors of the playground.  It was just weird how when I snapped the picture, I could see huge difference that little change of background made.



I really like how this one turned out.   The colors are a little asku, but I like it.  A blue hue or something.  I manually adjusted the brightness/contrast/color enhancement.  The colors looked normal after all that.  Then I played with a spotlight coming in with the natural light from the top left corner of  the picture.  I messed with some other features there with the spotlight.  I played a lot with metallics vs. plastic and shiny vs. matte.  This is what I ended up with .  And I like it!

This is my favorite of the bunch.  I always find pictures of my little girl so much more endearing when they are up close, and I have been trying to focus in on that at least once each time I get my camera out.  I first made it black and white.  Then played around with the spotlight coming in from the top left.  I adjusted a lot of the other stuff there too, but I cannot remember any of it now.  All I can say is that it was all on the same menu with the spotlight tool.