Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques

Improving Dark Images

Try this: Open any grayscale image you think is too dark (I'll show you how to work with color in a minute), like the one shown in Figure 6.30. Next, choose Image > Adjustments > Curves, and add a point by clicking the middle of the line. Pull the line straight down, and see what happens to your image (Figure 6.31). Compare the curve with the gradient at the left of the Curves dialog box. The farther you move the curve down, the less ink you use and therefore the brighter the image becomes. If part of the curve bottoms out, the shade represented by that area becomes pure white because there will be no ink used when the image is printed.

Figure 6.30. Start with a dark grayscale image. (©2005 PhotoSpin, www.photospin.com) ...