Summer of Color 2013 - Charcoal and Light Pink

I've been participating in a six-week challenge called Summer of Color 2013: Artist's Choice...

This week is charcoal and pink...

After work, I saw the clouds coming in to cover the sun, eventually bring rain... I love to  take photos of flowers in diffused light at times.  I had no intention of photographing something for the challenge.  Just to take some photos of flowers in my yard.  Especially since I spied the first sunflower of the summer starting to open (you'll see that in another post).

But without intention when I took the original photo, I started playing around with an image...finding just the right quote...that made my heart sing!   It was like a gift.  It is not always easy to keep up faithfully with these photo challenges when one works full-time.  It WAS a gift.

I took the photo and made some minor edits in Lightroom, then sent it to Photoshop Elements for further edits.  I then added a black and white gradient map adjustment layer.  Using the quick selection tool, I selected the flower. I took a soft round brush, 18% opacity, and masked off the flower.  Added a grungy texture from Shadowhouse Creations.  The quote is by Alfred Stieglitz.

Here is the original photo...

Hope you love this unexpected gift as much as I do.