Photo Oomph

I love taking photos.  I'm still learning the in's and out's of my dSLR camera - and I'm always open to learning new things, taking classes, etc.  However, sometimes I still need a little help to bring out the best in a picture.  Enter: Photo Actions.  I'll admit it, right here, I used to be a photo snob and think that actions were ... well ... cheating.  I mean, I was always striving for that perfect photo.  I could do it.  I didn't need help.  Uh-huh.  Now I've got quite a few actions in my digital arsenal - and I love them!  Some add a softness to photos, some turn color to black 'n' white (some extremely so, some with softer coffee cream overtones) ... and now I have a new one that I think I'll be using quite a bit: Color Pop from Jennifer Valencia.  Here's a before and after of a photo with Jen's action:

Pretty cool, huh?  I used this photo in a layout - see below - with the April BYOC kits from Pixels & Company - well, this is Wanderlust from Wild Blueberry Ink.