Edit Me Challenge Week 22!

I have come to love Sarah Hudson's blog The Stiles Files. She posts beautiful photos constantly! Her two littles are cute and obviously the lights of her life! She is an amazing photographer and a really nice person to boot! We are so happy to have her as our judge this week over on the Edit Me Challenge blog. I know we are recovering from a long weekend and holiday, but please take the time to head on over and give it a go! Even though I'm not eligible for judging, I just had to!

I'm on my lunch break at work, so I used PicMonkey.com - which I totally love anyway!

Here's Sarah's original photo:

Don't you just love when you are driving down the road and you see an old barn. It's so nostalgic.. can it be nostalgic if I didn't actually lived when it was in use?  Maybe it just makes me long for simpler times - I get over it quickly by using my very complicated digital camera to snap a photo. =) 

Here is my edit:

And here's how it all went down: 

1. Sharpened and Clarified quite a bit. I knew I wanted to go for something dramatic. 
2. Straightened the horizon a little - then I cropped it so the straightening really didn't matter much. 
3. Increased the highlights until the sky disappeared to white - this is when I knew I'd go for a texture.
4. Added warmth using the temperature slider
5. Used the Dusk effect - faded to about 55-60 %
6. Used the Urbane effect for a little burnt edges effect and faded it about 75 %
7. Next I posterized it! With the details slider alll the way to the right. I did not fade this effect at all. 
8. Added one of the papyrus textures on multiply- This one just happened to look like sky! awesome. Faded it to taste.

I really love it! I love the texture and depth.

Question? Do you start editing a photo with an ultimate picture in mind or do you just go with the flow and get inspired along the way?

I think I do a little of both... but I love when inspiration hits half way through and you get something you totally didn't expect! I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with. There are so many great entries so far! 

Join us weekly for loads of editing fun! 

By the way, I'm taking  Kim from Mom Tried It's Photoshop class in a couple of weeks! There are still spots available for you guys to join in!


XOXO