Alex,
No question is too basic. There are lots of ways of dealing with lightening dark shadows one is:
Select the lasso and set the feather to about 10 to 20 (it all depends on the resolution of your image … so just try it out) then select the area that is too dark. Enhance>Adjust Brightness & Contrast>Levels then move the middle slide a little to the left until it looks OK. Using feather means you don’t get a harsh line when you lighten the section.
Another way is to simply open your image then Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Fill Flash and move the lighter slide until your image looks OK
You will need to experiment a little.
Wendy
Or yet another…
* create a new blank layer on top, set mode to Overlay
* have foreground color in Tool Box be white
* choose a soft paintbrush set to about 5% opacity
* dab some white paint over the shadowed portion of the image, repeat dabbing as required
OR
* lasso/copy/paste darkened face on new top layer
* set mode to screen, experiement with the layer opacity, maybe tweak that layer a bit with levels afterwards, perhaps use a gentle eraser for touchup
IMO, Nancy’s method is the best to use for this problem. Just be sure to use, as she suggests, a SOFT brush and a LOW opacity.
For subtler changes, you can use Soft Light instead of Overlay.
Thank you group! I’m overwhelmed by your responses.
I’ve only had time to follow Wendy’s instructions and am pleased with the result. Both Nancy and Stu have further suggestions. I’ll try those just as soon as possible. Their instructions are a bit more complicated, but I’m sure will go a long way in helping me to overcome my ineptness with Elements. That is, when house visitors leave.
Alex,
Try Nancy’s technique (non destructive dodging) at 100% opacity switching (hit the ‘x’ key) between burn and dodge to get a sense for how this works undo your work and then use 5% opacity.
This is a very gradual technique with several passes. Experiment. You’ll get the idea.
Alex,
As you have gathered by now there are lots of ways to do this … but one thing you should always do is to work on a duplicate of your image and not the original. That way if you make a mess of it you will always have the original to go back to.
Wendy
Good advice Wendy.
Following your technique, I did use a copy and can now see my subject’s face under the hat brim. I am still struggling to understand Nancy’s instructions, but then, with a guest in the house, I haven’t been able to devote the time needed.
Again thanks for help from everyone.
Alex,
You will find that as you learn more about Elements it will all just fall into place … it just takes a while.
Wendy
