I shared this on my Instagram Stories yesterday, but it is only available there for 24 hours. I had a lot of positive feedback from it, so I thought I’d replicate it in a permanent blog post.
This weekend’s prompt for Instagram’s weekend hashtag project was to be spontaneous. I laid in bed thinking of how to be spontaneous for such a long time that it felt impossible anymore to be spontaneous. Then I had a eureka moment. Why don’t I go outside in sub zero temperatures, while wearing my threadbare vintage dress, lie down in the snow, hold flowers in my face and take a photo? That sounds perfectly reasonable. If it was anything it felt spontaneous. And cold.
While I’m not expecting a lot of you to want to replicate this photo, some of the steps are relevant to editing any photo, so I’ll share the process.
First, I found a spot where I could tape my phone to a broom to function as an overhead tripod.
The sheet is there to block the shadows from the rail. The blue tape is where I taped my cell phone- the green stick is a broom handle. Super high tech.

This highly unflattering photo is real life. It takes real love to share this online, haha! Anyway, I held the remote shutter in my mouth as it would be hidden by flowers.

I used a handheld mirror to make sure my hair was right before taking the photo.

First, I used Photoshop Fix (the phone app) to remove distracting flecks and the turquoise fleece I had been using for warmth.

Next, I used the app A Color Story to make a few adjustments to the curves, brightness and color balance (I am planning to do a thorough post on in-app editing) I also used my favorite filter Sophie from the Stardust pack at about 80% opacity.

My last step was to use my favorite finishing filter on the VSCO app: HB2.
So here is the before and after:

I hope you enjoyed seeing the process behind an image. If anything, it serves as a reminder that what we see on social media is not always real life.