highly restrict color adjustment

[meamjw]

I have a photo with numerous strips of nearly washed out skin tones and some very dark shadowed ones. Having no luck trying to darken the light and lighten the dark so it presents natural gradients. In fact I can't get those areas to gradually transition at all. They become uniformly too dark or uniformly too light.as if painted with a spray gun. Surely one of you smart people can tell me how to do this.

 

[hawkeye]

It's difficult to recommend anything without seeing the image in question. You should post it.

 

[Tom Mann]

Also, by "photo", do you mean a paper print, an old-fashioned slide (transparency), a negative, or an image that started life digitally?

Tom