A day without learning...

I consider myself a self taught photographer or at least 95% self taught. I have had a point in the right direction here or there --(such as put your camera on the M mode, set your ISO at 100 and your F-stop at 5.6 and take some pictures and share them) ... a lot of critiques from amazing ladies (and some men) on a photo board I frequent on the internet but for the most part I have learned photography and photoshop on my own.

When you are a mostly self taught person it requires that coming to Jesus session with yourself to admit - I  have a lot to learn and I cannot be scared to admit that and to seize the opportunities when they present themselves!!  Even if you're shooting 4-6 sessions a week, making a decent living you can still learn and grow and get to higher levels-- right ??? 

So, I noticed today (while driving) that the clouds looked CRAZY COOL and very 3D .  I immediately thought of a picture I'd taken of one of my amazing senior's Chelsea. The session took place last fall - around 6 months ago and I was very happy that Chelsea and her mom were very happy with their pictures. I was happy with them too. Yet, today when I saw the clouds I immediately thought of a picture I'd taken of her (out of all the pictures I've taken outdoors) and thought how much better this picture could look.   I took a picture of the clouds and then brought up her old picture and went to work.

Here's the before and after.  Now, thankfully I have a new tool I can work with to enhance pictures even more. I think it took this picture to a higher level.