Get the Image You Want: Essential Photoshop Editing Techniques

Improve tonal range with the Shadow/Highlight command

Sometimes there's nothing wrong with part of an image. Perhaps the sun was behind your model—the background looks fine, but the subject is in shadow. Maybe the subject was in bright light or too close to the flash, resulting in an otherwise great picture with a few key details blown out. Whether the problem is unwanted light or shadow, there's a way to fix it quickly.

For images that are well-lit in some places but need help in others, Photoshop offers the Shadow/Highlight adjustment command. While most of Photoshop's adjustment tools can modify precise tonal ranges, even the mighty Curves and Levels commands are designed to adjust the entire image or a selected area. The Shadow/Highlight ...