Week 10 good to WOW Edit Yellow

Next week I am definitely narrowing down my choices a little more!  I don't want to bore everyone and what do I need with 7 pictures of a Yellow Dogwood Bush (or really any for that matter).  What does everyone do with their gorgeous shots besides put them on their blog?  Not that my shots are gorgeous, but maybe someday...

Anyway, I didn't want to be too long in posting, so I did edits on the least favored shots last night without Ashley's tutorial.  I even edited one I hadn't uploaded to see if it could be improved.

SOOC 7

2 Soft Light--100%/60% top erased, Texture--Warm Grunge, Warming 85 Filter

SOOC 1

 I figured this picture was so bad it didn't matter what I did to it, it would have to be an improvement.  Let's see.

Some Yellow and Red Boosts--erased hue Saturation on the bottom edge; Paper Grunge Texture, Frame Effect

Sooc 2

I did a whole ton of stuff to this one.  The most interesting would be painting the background black and an adjustment layer--Gradient Map in Yellow and White that is what makes the yellow soooo bright and took away some of the detail.  What I wanted to do was create a "black and white" photo where everything was black but the yellow and red branches.  I didn't quite get there.  But I like the drama.

This next one was one of my favorites as is.  It seems so soft and felt like it needed softer edits.

SOOC 6

 Two NaturesBeautyJan28 Textures, Soft Light, Multiply, and a PW Sharpen This on the branches in the foreground

This still didn't seem soft enough so I added PW Heartland Action and erased it on one branch:

I could see adding a quote to this and printing it for a card or something.  Maybe...

So that is what I did last night.  Today I read Ashley's tutorial and to the two pictures everyone seemed to like the best I copied exactly what she did (except I chose a slightly different yellow for my fill color).  It was great to learn how to add a Lens Flare.  On I Heart Faces I couldn't join in this week because I did not have a picture where the sun flared on a face; I did not know I could add it in an edit.  Though I imagine the truly great pictures do start with it already there, but I'm a ways away from figuring out that technique!

Here are the results.  I do like them.  I wouldn't have thought to edit these pictures in this manner, but I think it actually worked pretty well for these shots, particularly the second one.

Edit on Picture SOOC 3

Edit on SOOC 5

You can see all of the originals at my earlier post Week 10 good to WOW SOOC Yellow.
One last edit.  It seemed like at least one of these was just screaming to be black and white so I took the SOOC 5 with all of Ashley's edits and ran PW Black Beauty.  I do like it.

SOOC 5 Edits and BW

Thank you so much for all the encouraging comments on my original photos and for all the teaching.  I am learning so much!  By the way, I did shrink and sharpen for the web.  I might finally be getting the hang of it.  Now if I can just find some flowers to take pictures of for next week; I'll probably have to buy some, unless my husband planted some I haven't seen yet.  Have a great day!

All Textures are from Kim Klassen's Cafe.