Another challenge

Time consuming, but a great lesson in how to play with photos in Photoshop Elements. (only time consuming because it was my first time with this program grouping several photos and playing with the background.) In a way I guess you could say this is my first digital scrapbook page! I'm sure there are better ways to do this, quicker methods, but it was fun to give this a try and see what I could do (can you say trial and error!)

Our plein air group is through meeting for the year, but yesterday was so gorgeous I had to go in search of some fall color to paint. I tried campus first and saw tons of brilliant trees but the settings weren't very inspiring (parking lots full of cars just don't thrill me---even if they're surrounded by leafy reds, oranges and golds...). Next I checked out a local park and was happy to see some great areas of color just sparkling in the afternoon sun. That's the story behind the pastel in the montage below. I was hoping to get out again today but the fog this morning has turned into solid clouds---it would be great for portraits, but I'm not seeing the intense lights and darks I like to try and capture with pastel. Might have to pull out some past photos and play in the studio with my new easel instead!

Thanks again Ali for suggesting this weeks challenge---just the nudge I needed to learn more about my photo software!