Tanning Bed With Lights

Okay. So I really wanted the tanning bed to glow in the picture that I was taking for this newspaper assignment. However, the lights in a tanning bed do not turn on unless the bed is closed. This made it impossible for me to get a picture of Haley with the lights on. So, I decided to try and test my photoshop skills.

-First Try-

Basically, I feel like this picture looks like Violet off of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I used the blur tool to try and make the lights glow, and then I pretty much just put an overlay over the picture. Smith helped me with this one, and it helped me get a better feel of photoshop, but I didn't really like this one, so I decided to try it again. 

-Second Try-

This was the one that I decided to go out on my own and try. I think its an improvement from the first photochop job that I did, but it still needs some work. I think the lights look better because they look a little more like they are glowing, but I think that it needs to be cleaned up a little more around the lights up near the darker part of the picture. Also, I need to work on the tone of Haley's skin. I want it to look like the lights are glowing on her, but I want it to look really and not like she is sick or something. I think this is a good start for this picture, and I hope to work on it some more or do something like it. I really would like to become more familiar and effective at using photoshop.