Photos taken in low light conditions with foreground subjects in auto flash will have a dark background. This flaw can be corrected using the color correction tools in Photoshop.
Necessary
- - Photoshop program;
- - image.
Instructions
Step 1
Load a picture with a background that needs lightening into Photoshop. Using the Levels option of the New Adjustment Layer group of the Layer menu, add an adjustment layer over the image. With the RGB item selected in the Channels list, drag the gray slider below the histogram to the left. In the process of adjustment, be guided by the state of the darkened fragments of the background. After lightening the dark areas, click the OK button.
Step 2
As a result of the correction, not only the background was brightened, but also those objects that were well lit without Photoshop. To reduce their brightness, use masks and opacity to adjust the degree to which the adjustment layer is applied to highlights, midtones, and shadows.
Step 3
To adjust it separately, you will need to create three copies of the adjustment layer. This can be done by duplicating it twice with the Ctrl + J keyboard shortcut. Turn off the visibility of all filter layers.
Step 4
Use the Color Range option of the Select menu to select the shadow area in the original image. To do this, select the Shadows item in the Select list. Turn on the bottommost adjustment layer and fill its mask in the selection with black using the Paint Bucket Tool. The correction is now applied to the entire image except for the dark areas.
Step 5
Invert the mask with the Invert option in the Adjustments group of the Image menu. An adjustment layer processed in this way only affects the shadow area in the photo. Double click on the name of the layer and rename it "shadow". This will help you avoid confusion when making final adjustments to layer transparency.
Step 6
Turn off the visibility of the shadow adjustment layer, go back to the background image and select the midtones area with the Color Range. To do this, select the Midtones item from the Select list. Turn on the visibility of the next adjustment layer in turn and edit its mask so that it affects only the selected parts of the image.
Step 7
Change the mask of the last remaining layer to brighten the highlights in the photo. Adjusting the Opacity parameter for each copy of the filter layer, adjust the adjustment of individual areas of the image. To avoid making the illuminated object too bright, set the Opacity of the layer that affects the highlights to the minimum value.
Step 8
Save the lightened image with the Save As option of the File menu.
