Fixing an Image That is Too Bright or Too Dark

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:12:37 PST

Ever taken a great photo, captured that once-in-a-lifetime shot, or in a location that you'll never get back to… just to find later that the shot is too light or too dark?

Here's a simple way to rescue those images from the recycle bin:

Open the image in Photoshop (this may also work in PS Elements).
Hit CTRL-J to duplicate the layer.
On an image that is too bright, change the layer's blending mode to “multiply”.
On an image that is too dark, change the blending mode to “screen”.
Then adjust the layer's opacity with the slider at the top of the layers palette until you get the desired level of brightness.

You have to be careful using this, because just like over-adjusting the levels on the image will introduce noise, this method will accentuate noise or compression artifacts.

While this method does not give you the same control over an image as the adjustments available with RAW format, it can help you when you've got a JPG or TIFF that is just too dark or too light.

exposure

Fixing an Image That is Too Bright or Too Dark