Quickly Brightening an Underexposed Photo
Do you ever find that when you look thru your photos you always have one or two that are underexposed or too dark. Often it is because I didn’t have my camera on the right setting when I took the picture, I adjust and take another picture and the next one turns out brighter, but wasn’t the shot like the first. When shooting pictures indoors or in low-light situations, your photos may come out darker than you would like. Fortunately, there is a quick fix for underexposed photos with Photoshop and Elements!
*Open an underexposed photo and select it.
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Press Ctrl + J to make a copy of the photo. Or go to Layer > New > Layer Via Copy.
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Now Find the Blending Modes Menu (in the layers palette box). The default blending mode is “Normal.” Clicking the down-facing arrow reveals the entire list of blending modes. Change the Blending Mode of the copy to “Screen.”
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If the photo needs to be lightened even more, select the top layer (the photo copy layer) and make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl + J. This may be too light for your liking. If so, adjust the Opacity of the top layer by moving the Opacity slider. Locate the Opacity slider by clicking the down-facing arrow in the 100% Opacity box.
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When you are satisfied with your quick fix, flatten the image by selecting Layer > Flatten Image.
Here is an example of a photo I have done this trick to.
Now, there are definitely many other ways to fix an underexposed picture, but this is a quick tip for you! This would be a great photo to fix even more too, once I have brightened it!
Now, go and brighten/save those photos!
Pollywog MandaKay
