A hot beaver shot is my first foray into Photoshop

OK, so it's not really my FIRST foray, but it's my first foray for this blog.

There was some discussion in the comments section of yesterday's post about Photoshop tricks, specifically the "hard light" trick I saw demonstrated by Pioneer Woman. (Aside: if you haven't read Pioneer Woman's site(s), what the heck is wrong with you? Check it out http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ But not until after you're done reading MY post, okay?)

Anyway, PW talked about how she often uses "Hard Light" in Photoshop, and Elsie and Lou said they hadn't had much luck with that feature. (And I'm such a newb at Photoshop, I might be calling it the wrong thing. It could be an action. It could be a brush. Whatever.) What I have discovered is that it definitely takes the right picture to use Hard Light.

Today at the Peninsula we saw a beaver. He didn't seem especially busy....he swam around a bit, then checked out the waterfowl, then swam around some more. Here's an original (unmolested in Photoshop) shot of my hot beaver:

Now here's that same beaver shot with a little Hard Light applied:

YUCK. That beaver shot needs something, but Hard Light definitely isn't it.

But wait....sometimes Hard Light is a cool tool. Here's another plain old beaver shot:

And I really like the effect that Hard Light has on my beaver shot here, don't you?