Opening Up Shadow Areas That Are Too Dark

One of the most common problems you’ll run into with your digital photos is that the shadow areas are too dark. Fortunately for you, since it is the most common problem, digital photo software like Elements has gotten really good at fixing this problem. Here’s how it’s done:

Step One:

Open the photo that needs to have its shadow areas opened up to reveal detail that was “lost in the shadows.”

MATT KLOSKOWSKI

Step Two:

Go under the Enhance menu, under Adjust Lighting, and choose Shadows/Highlights.

Step Three:

When the dialog appears, it already assumes you have a shadow problem (sadly, most people do but never admit it), so it automatically opens up the shadow areas in your document by 25% (you’ll see that the Lighten Shadows slider is at 25% by default [0% is no lightening of the shadows]). If you want to open up the shadow areas even more, drag the Lighten Shadows slider to the right. If the shadows appear to be opened too much with the default 25% increase, drag the slider to the left to a setting below 25%. When the shadows look right, click OK. Your repair is complete.