Beautiful Hen Street

We took our 15-year anniversary trip to Amboise, France. This is the most charming town.

Castle? Oui.

Winding cobblestone streets? Oui.

Meandering river? Oui.

Hot air balloons floating lazily over the town? Oui.

Beautiful storefronts? Oui.

Amazing food? Mais, bien sur!

Romantic streets named something like Beautiful Chicken? Even that.

I love Google Maps. It has helped me reconnect with several places in the pictures that I have been editing. I managed to find the street below on Google Maps, and it’s name is: Rue Belle Poule. Beautiful Hen Street. And something new I learned tonight: Poule, in French, means ‘chicken’ if it’s referring to cuisine, and ‘hen’ if it’s referring to the animal. La langue francaise est si belle.

A small street in Amboise leads up the hill to a hospital and cemetery. NotSoSAHM
Amboise, sigh – ProjectEdit365 – 02 June

The original was a great memory but I added some feeling to it. I messed around for about thirty minutes with cloning out the power lines (and having to eliminate the chimney as well because of my lack of skill); softening up the whole scene but then adding sharpness back to the bushes and roof. Applying two of the same adjustment brushes to the street to make it look just so. Adjusting the color of the street ever so slightly so it was a little more yellow than blue. But it still didn’t have the look I wanted. Coffeshop Blog to the rescue. I applied her Velvet Butter Lightroom Preset over all that I had done and came up with the above. I love her work.

02June

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The girl in the flowers

There was this field of wildflowers that we would drive by and our daughter fawned over them every time. So one day we stopped. Her day was made. I’m sure she was telling a story she made up.

A girl sits amid pink wildflowers NotSoSAHM
The girl in the flowers – ProjectEdit365 – 01 June

This photo was not taken in RAW. In fact, it was taken either with a point and shoot or my phone – back before I had my “good” camera. It can still be edited though! I cropped in to lose the brown grass in the background and softened the whole image. I used an adjustment brush, highlighted just her body, and sharpened that a bit–I didn’t want it to be as soft. I adjusted the yellows and greens to satisfaction and lowered the saturation of the reds just a little bit because her shirt is so bright. Using a different adjustment brush, I increased the clarity and contrast of her hair – I’ve found that doing that gives it depth and shine. The original:

01June

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The Coming Rains

It rained all but one day of our three week trip.

On the day of the photo below, we got to see the rains approaching us.

The rains come in on a plain in Utah near Promontory Point NotSoSAHM
The Coming Rains – ProjectEdit365 – 31 May

I cropped in to focus on the rains and brightened everything up. I also increased the contrast and clarity of the pathway and just slightly increased the saturation of the whole photo. The original:

333A0079

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Vanishing

Transcontinental

East meets West: American

Expansion explodes

Black and white of the rails of the Transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah NotSoSAHM
Vanishing – ProjectEdit365 – 30 May

I envisioned the black and white when I took this shot. The clouds were a bonus from God.

30May

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Top Cover

I can’t remember what made us take this detour off of I-15 north of Salt Lake City, UT. I think we were attempting to visit a state park. We ran across this bridge over some type of water release at a dam. After searching for about 30 minutes on Google Maps, I found right where this is! It looks like they have a canal system that regulates water into the Willard Bay Reservoir.

The clouds were low and heavy over the mountains that day. We got quite a bit of rain (on the whole three-week trip, actually).

Clouds cover the mountains north of Salt Lake City, Utah, while several men stand on a bridge in the foreground NotSoSAHM
Top Cover – ProjectEdit365 – 29 May

I cropped in to focus more on the bridge and the men on the bridge while trying to keep the clouds on the mountain as the main focus. I used an HDR preset for Lightroom and then did some localized adjustments on the mountains, the bridge, and the grass. Oh, I also cloned out that obvious yellow sign. As a note, I really wish the cowboy were standing closer to the foreground on the bridge!

29May

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Famous Residence

Is it as recognizable in black and white?

The White House in black and white NotSoSAHM
Famous Residence – ProjectEdit365 – 28 May

I liked the original photo, and I think it would do on its own. But I wanted to see what it would look like in black and white. Editing a white house in black and white isn’t easy. Or, at least, I’m not totally sure I like the edited version more than the original…What do you think?

28May

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