My Big Texan

Last year's bluebonnet post was titled "My Little Texan."  Look how small Dominic was last April.  I miss that little baby!

So anyway, we did our annual bluebonnet pictures on Sunday.  The bluebonnets came earlier this year and they are everywhere thanks to some big rain storms we had in the last few weeks.  (The grass looks a ton greener and healthier this year too.  Last year's pics look pretty dry in retrospect!)  I discovered a large patch about 1/2 mile from our house, so I didn't even have to drive the 10ish miles to Old Settlers Park like I did last year.

I think my photography skills have improved since last year, although I didn't escape the overhead sun like I planned.  I took last year's bluebonnet pics in the middle of the afternoon and they had too many shadows, so we started by 8:15am this year.  A photographer told me that you really want to do outdoor pics in the early morning or at dusk so the sun is not overhead.  Note to self: 8:15am is not early enough.  I probably should have been out there by 7:30 to avoid shadows.

I have also discovered Picasa since last year, which is how I made the colors appear so vibrant in a few of these pics.  I am noticing Picasa does have its limits, though.  I can only change the color saturation of the entire picture, so the subject (the boy) gets darker/brighter as the flowers get brighter.  Someone told me that in Photoshop you can select a color such as blue, and just play with all the blues it the photo.  But I don't have the time to devote to learning how to use Photoshop. And it's not free. :)

Finally, here are some of the pics:

Notice the difference on this one, which I did not touch up in Picasa?

 

Major water spots on the camera.  He was watching some police cars departing from the station across the street.

P.S. It was really dewy outside so we got our pant legs, shoes and socks got all wet! I also noticed there were some water drops on the lens toward the end, which made some blurry spots in the pictures.