Fun with Photo Editing

I know most people have photo shop or some variation and almost titled this "Fun with Photo shop" except I don't have photo shop anymore. "Fun with Memory Manager" just didn't have the ring I wanted, so you get the best I could come up with under the circumstances. I don't even know why I'm talking about the title. Who cares?

So, anyway, I've been trying to get a good portrait of each kid lately because my favorite photographer moved away. I've never really had a great experience with portrait studios though I'll probably end up there again eventually. There is something about a professional portrait. I've been trying my best to get some good ones of my own. I got this one the other day. I love it except for that red shirt that just glares at you. I wish my daughter didn't feel the need to control her wardrobe as she does, but she does and I just have to live with it. It's part of who she is. I'm fine with it most of the time, like when she wore a beautiful pastel dress and rain boots with bright red cherries the other day. When it starts getting in the way of getting good pictures I get a little annoyed. It makes me want to go put all those old shirts of Ryan's with Lightening McQueen and Thomas right back in the box where she found them. She loves them and that's what keeps me from going all control freak on her. Just let her be who she is, so when she is in her 20's she can look at me the same way I looked at my mother and say, "How could you dress me that way?" Then I can say to her, "You insisted on those clothes. See where stubbornness gets you?" Maybe she'll learn the lesson I'm still working on. All hypothetical future conversations aside, I really didn't like the look of that red shirt in this picture. I thought about trying to change the color, but that always looks so fake. I couldn't crop the shoulder out because that would ruin the composition. The idea of black and white seemed like a good one. While I was looking I saw this "take color out" tool. I thought I'd give it a try. I think I like it.

Original

I liked this one okay, but I thought if I could just lighten the color a bit...

This is what I came up with in the end.

I think I like it better than if the shirt had been a better color in the first place. A blessing in disguise?