brighten up images

[stevannie]

hi guys
once again, many thanks goes to welles for all his help concerning my printing. Over to my next question, i have just come back from Cambridge and took loads of pictures there, however i remembered about the whitebalance this time,? but as we are having quite a cold spelll here, the day was clear and crisp with many heavy shadows, and i wanted to know if there is any other way of brightening up a picture with a heavy shadow across it, other than using just the brightness/contrast sliders,? have heard it is possible to lighten one picture, and darken another and then add the parts together to make an acceptable picture, is this true? or do you know a better way?
steveb uk

 

[lasa]

Can you show us an example?
Lasa

 

[Welles]

Yes please, an example but also, Steve, look at Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight... and Image > Adjustments > Exposure if you are using Photoshop CS2.

 

[Sark]

have heard it is possible to lighten one picture, and darken another and then add the parts together to make an acceptable picture, is this true? or do you know a better way?

Yep. With Layer masks.

Just duplicate the image. Turn off the duplicate. Apply changes to the first image and then turn the duplicate back on and apply changes to this. Now add a Layer mask to the duplicate and you can control the opacity/transparency of this layer by applying white, or black paint to the Layer mask. Sometimes a white to black gradient will work, but precise control is achieved by painting with a soft brush.

Sark