Farm Storm Shower

I remember helping Grandpa in the hay fields when getting caught in a summer storm shower.  Rain poured down, hail pelted our jeep shelter... then the rainbow came out.  It was magnificent! Soon the sun was out again, hot and sticky. This photo reminds me of that day!  Putting on the rain effect was rather fun...  here's a tutorial.

The original photo is from Sarah from The Stiles Files, from St. Paul, Minnesota.  Love your photo, Sarah!

Here's a bit about her:

My name is Sarah and I live in St. Paul, MN with my husband, Jeff, and our two kiddos, Miles and Stella. I am fairly sure that I was passed over when they were handing out any sort of domestic skills, but my husband picks up the slack and we make it through most days with the kids intact. :) It's been a little over a year since I got bit by the photography bug and I got bit hard. I love being a mom more than anything in the world, but I desperately needed a creative outlet that was just.for.me.so.I.wouldn't.go.too.(make.that.any.more.) crazy. I absolutely love taking and editing pictures and, while I have a long way to go, the process of learning has been absolutely wonderful.

Sarah's SOOC

Here's my entry:

What is in the edit:

• Slightly straightened the photo
• Several adjustment layers - levels, curves, contrast - to bring out detail and color
• Sponge tool, dodge, and burn tools to selectively bring out color and highlights
• Imported a tree on its own layer - under the barn layer - carefully masking to reveal the tree using a round brush and a spatter brush
• Rendered an omni light effect and a solar filter - to set up the light in the sky versus the dark stormy clouds
• Worked at the rain effect - see link above for a tutorial
• Added a burnt edge, masking off the lighter corners.
• Curves inverted layer - brushing on light and darkness as needed
• Resized for web

It was nice reminiscing about Grandpa. Thank you, Sarah!