Last Sunday morning Rob kicked me out of the house to get some alone time and take some new photographs. I decided to go to Main Street in Farmington, Utah to try and get some shots. I drove through there on accident a couple of months ago and thought it was such a cute area! Mature trees, brick homes, white picket fences, very Americana. I took a few shots but had a hard time capturing the feeling that I wanted.
This photo came about by looking up into the branches of some of the trees and enjoying the sunlight shining through. I really wasn’t expecting to use the shot at all. I almost deleted it because I didn’t feel it looked like what I saw (you know how sometimes it’s said that the picture doesn’t do it justice?). Well since I didn’t really get any other shots that I loved, I started playing with the colors and lighting of this until I got it to look how I saw it in my mind. It’s was so peaceful and summery.
Mid-morning light can be hard to work with since it tends to look hazy, but by adjusting colors, light, and contrast I was able to achieve what I felt the scene originally had.
By-the-way, all of our Foto Friday photos are copyrighted, but if you ever want a print or to use one as a wallpaper, etc. just ask.
Rob & Julie Snow Family Blog 
Travis, Thanks for your nice feedback! I put the “before” shot on the first page of our flickr account. You can get there from our webpage. I did not convert to HDR, I used Lightroom to up the contrast and mid-tone sharpening a bit. I also added a little luminance and saturation to the greens and yellows. Hope that answers your question.
Sheesh Julie! You are awesome!! Do you ever take family picture? I hate to even ask because you are obviously much more talented….but I want to have some different pictures taken of my family, and I need the right phototgrapher. Call me…635.0901.
Your photography skills are leaving us in the dust! Julie, I love the one you took of the trees. As soon as I opened the page I thought how perfect it looked, and then I got jealous because I figured one of you took the pic :). Did you convert to HDR, or just tweak in photo shop? Becuase if that is the original shot with no edits, then I’m really jealous.
Beautiful, Julie. I love the rays coming through the branches.
Julie, this photo is fabulous! The contrast is great and the composition is very appropriate and interesting.