How to lighten an image

One of the most common areas that will require attention is that photos from your digital camera may be darker than you would like them to be.

This is typical of indoor shots, especially if the flash on the camera is not greatly effective. It also happens with bright area shots such as in snow. Adjusting the darkness level can be very successful, however the image quality may suffer but not noticeably for a small adjustment.

The flat line on the right hand side of this chart is fairly typical of a photo that is slightly darkened. By dragging the white triangle (at the far right of the chart) to the left the overall image will lighten.

Drag this chart away from your photo to see the effect as the triangle is slid along the base line.

Also try the Auto button to allow Photoshop to make its own adjustments. This does not always produce the best result but worth a try.