Quick, easy photo adjustment tips...

Another frequent problem we see in amateur photos, or even snapshots from experienced users -- and that's either over exposed or under exposed images. Sometimes the subject matter is such that the camera "auto" settings are fooled into thinking the image is a lot lighter than it really is. Here are some quick tips you can try with little or no trouble -- which will usually help.

Lighten photos

This doesn't always work, but it sometimes can be the quickest, most direct way to automatically add light to an underexposed photo.

1) Drag a copy of the photo layer
2) Set the blending mode to "SCREEN"
3) Adjust the amount of screening by using the Opacity slider.

CLICK HERE to see a small QuickTime video of this technique

Photo before this technique, and after applying this technique.

Lighten with Levels

If the above provides less than acceptable results, then you may have to dig into the Levels palette. I'm not going into a ten-page dissertation on Levels because most people don't need it. I'm also not going to torture you with a curves tutorial, it's way over-kill, and most people don't need it even if they could understand it.

This is the levels dialog. It represents the 'level' of each color in the file. Look closely along the bottom of the graph. If there's a flat area with little or no data in the chart, it indicates there are no values there. (This dark example shows nothing at the higher range -- indicating the shot is overly dark.)

You slide the White (Light levels) slider toward the right. Watch the image as you do so. Once the triangle pointer enters the ramp of color, you approach a better exposure.

The center (Gray) slider represents the mid tones. Slide this one slightly right and observe the results. By using these two sliders in conjunction with each other, you can arrive at a pretty good exposure. Likewise, the far left slider is for light values. Slide it toward the right and an overly light image becomes darker. Try them. Experiment and you'll have it in no time.

But what if the light is not uniform? You'll need some basic tips in masking

In this Photoshop Tutorial we've talked about:
Cropping | Exposure | Levels Masks | Digital Step Wedge

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Who invented "Photoshop Tips & Tricks"

from the Editor:
I was delighted that day back in 1989 when Peggy Killburn called to ask if I could handle one more speaker in my "Great Graphics Tips & Tricks" session scheduled for the 1990 Macworld Expo. "Yes" was my response to her request to add Russell Brown to my panel. After all, we loved Adobe's young "Illustrator" program, and were quite anxious to try out their upcoming new product called "Photoshop." After seeing his demo, I was convinced Photoshop would be big. So the next month we added "Photoshop Tips & Tricks" to our regular DTG Magazine uploads to Compuserve, GEnie and AOL. The rest is history.
I only regret that I didn't trademark the name.

Editor / Publisher: Photoshop Tips & Tricks, DTG Magazine.

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