Help with lightening background please. First time posting!

[starlyte586]

This is my first time posting, I am having trouble getting the background light enough with out destorting my son. Any suggestions would be great, I do not know much about PS, but I have worked in LR2 alot. Thanks.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2583/3998993684_22e52d00be.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2492/3998993548_bf6a995162_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/43480395@N08/3998993548/)

[D Thompson]

I simply duplicated the background, added a layer mask painting black to hide the boy, changed the blending mode to screen. Too much then you can adjust the opacity of the layer.

I don't have LR, but you should be able to accomplish the same with a local adjustment brush.

[asysin2leads]

In camera, you need to meter for the background and then use the flash for fill. The simple way is to put the camera in Av mode and set the aperture what you want. See what shutter speed this will give you. Now, put the camera in Manual and input the settings the camera just gave you. Set you Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) to +1/3 - +1/2, or whatever will light your son properly.

[starlyte586]

Thank you both for your advice, and the edit was great. I'm going to try that out tonight on a few more I have that have a dark background. Again, thank you.