gettin' skooled

I took this picture last January because I wanted to capture my kids playing underneath that really cool sky, but it was tricky to expose for. Either I caught the dramatic sky and you couldn't see the kids, or else I got the kids under a boring white sky. Now who wants to see that? Come on!

So the Pioneer Woman came through for me yet again! I just love that I can follow her instructions and they work! And I won't even have to see my therapist this week...for this!

OK, I've heard you can do this, but I never knew how until now. I layered the two photos together, (one straight out of the camera, and one in which I had bumped up the exposure in RAW), added a layer mask, painted over what I din' want dark, and tadah!

Do you see it? It's right there...the illusion of good photography right before your very eyes!

Seriously it's so easy. But I swear when I look at that screen in Photoshop with all the brushes and palates and filters and blending tools and other doo-hickies and I am just ready to throw in the towel. But stuff like this excites me.

If you are interested, The Pioneer Woman's instructions are here.

I love you, Internet!

Oh yes, and children, I love you too. Even more than the internet.