Water mill wheel

While reading “The Adobe Photoshop CS3 book” by Scott Kelby, and looking at the “Double-Processing…” chapter I thought of a picture I took some time ago, which would be just perfect for this trick. Now, some explanation. If you have a photo like this:

with some parts in bright sun (wind mill, tent, people) and some parts in the shadow (water mill wheel), you can combine picture exposed in camera or “fixed” in Photoshop or Lightroom separately for foreground and background, so both have details visible and distinguishable.

I guess correcting exposure for foreground and background on separate copies was the easiest part.I had some fun with Adding a Layer Mask and then painting on it with soft brush, white color. It is a smart idea! But I think it requires some practice. Figuring out where the boundary should be, and what opacity (I decided on none at the end). Fifth time worked… I think. Check for yourself.