Before and After | Purple Pearls and Sunshine

I love photo challenges!! It helps me to improve on my photography, and editing skills.  I recently came across a new one called, Before and After ... a weekly challenge hosted by Monica over on her blog ... Pixel Perfect!  Each Thursday you would enter an SOOC, {aka: 'straight-out-of-the-camera' image}, any theme, along with an edited version of the same photo.  You then share the 'recipe' ... your equipment used and editing program, and if possible, your step-by-step process on the edited version.  Once you've entered and linked up to her site, you can have fun checking out the other entries on the list!

This, being my first entry, and since I haven't been out and about with my camera too much lately ... {one reason being the weather, and more importantly, my son recently got married, :) and our life has been quite full in the past couple of months} ... so, I've chosen to enter one I took on a very sunny, warm day this past fall, just before the 'winter to remember' began!  This photo reminds me of the warmer days to come ... are you as ready as I am?!  This is my great niece, Little Miss Rylie.  She loves her purple 'pearls', and the sunshine.  I really love to capture the innocence of childhood, and you'll probably be seeing a lot of this little girl! 

As you can see the original 'sooc' image was a bit dark, and 'splotchy' ... it wasn't as sharp as I'd like it, either.  I had just gotten a new lens ... 50mm f/1.8, which I was testing out on a Canon 30D, my current camera.  It's been a little while since I edited this, but if my memory serves me correctly, using PSE7, I simply brightened up the image, adjusted the colors and contrast, got rid of the noise {something I still seem to have trouble with, but I'm working on it!}  Once I saw this, I couldn't stop there, and went one step further ... I hope it's okay for this challenge, but, I really liked this image in b/w, so just today, I converted the first edit and added a 'mocha' layer to it, warming it up just a bit, and finally adjusting the contrast. 

So, there you have it ... my first Before and After entry on Pixel Perfect.  I'd so appreciate your thoughts on these.  After a few years of 'practice', I am now working on getting my business off the ground this year.  I'm open to any encouragement along with some kind, constructive criticism! :)  I'm looking forward to meeting some new friends over at Pixel Perfect, and learning lots more about this passion of mine!  

To join in, or to see more Before and After images, just click on the logo below the edits! 
You all have a happy and blessed day!  ~ Deborah