Brighten Photos Like a Pro

Shadows/Highlights Tool

If you’re a Photoshop expert, you probably would have guessed what I’ll be talking about next - the Curves tool. The Curves tool offers more flexibility than the Levels, but it still affects the highlights. I think you get the point already, but some people would ask, “What about the Shadows/Highlights Tool?”.

The Shadows/Highlights tool can brighten an image only in the shadows - like it says - and it can work quite well, but if you use any setting above 50%, you can start to see halos and overly detailed shadows. Open the Shadows/Highlights tool (Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights) and try it yourself. You should try the Shadows/Highlights first, but if that doesn’t work, don’t worry because we have a secret technique up our sleeves that we’re about to reveal.

Brighten Photos Like a Pro Photoshop Tutorial

Step 1

Hopefully you didn’t apply any of those brightening methods shown previously. If you did, just undo all the way back until you get to the unedited image.

First, we’ll add a Levels adjustment layer to brighten the image. You may also use a Curves adjustment layer if you know how to adjust the settings.

In the Levels tool, move the gray input slider towards the left to brighten the image. If you want to increase contrast, move the white input slider towards the left.

Click OK when you’re done. You should now have a new adjustment layer in your Layers palette.

Step 2

Here’s the key to this Photoshop brightening technique - the Apply Image tool. Choose Image > Apply Image. With the Apply Image tool, use the settings below and click OK. What this will do is apply an inverted copy of the image to the layer mask that we have selected..

So what exactly happened?

To understand this, you’ll need to understand layer masks. A layer mask works like a stencil. Anything black in the layer mask means that it is transparent and anything white in the image means that it’s visible. If it’s gray, it’s translucent

What we just did was made the adjustment layer only affect the image based on its brightness. That means that bright areas will be less affected than the dark areas. We just brightened the image without overexposing the highlights and created an image with a more visible dynamic range.

Step 3

The image should look like it has lower contrast and higher saturation. If you want to increase the contrast, add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. If you’re using Photoshop CS2 or older, use the Levels tool instead because the Brightness/Contrast tool in Photoshop CS2 and older produce poor quality results.

With the Brightness/Contrast tool, simply increase the contrast until you get the contrast level that you desire.To increase the contrast with the Levels tool, move the black and white input slider towards the center.

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Written by admin on February 17th, 2008 with 15 comments.
Read more articles on Exposure and Photo Retouching and Photoshop Tutorials.

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