I use Photoshop for almost all of my editing. Photoshop and Elements are almost the same thing only that Photoshop offers a lot more than Elements does. That is why I just stick with Photoshop even though I have both.
For this “lesson”, if you are an Elements user you can follow the instructions and it will be the same thing. I am going to show you a quick way to fix exposure in a picture that is under exposed or over exposed. Please keep in mind that there are many ways to achieve the same or similar outcomes while editing. I am going to show you the ways that I do things and the ways I have found things to be easiest.
Here is the picture I am going to use as our example. This is one I took of my son riding his bike outside of our house. (please ignore his dirtiness,,he is a 2 year old boy with 3 older brothers)
Its not a bad picture,,but it is a little dark. So if you are wanting a quick fix here is what you would do.
Open the picture in photoshop. In your layers palette (which is on the bottom right corner) click on the adjustment layer button which looks like a circle that is half black and half white.
When you click on it a box will pop up,,scroll up and choose “Levels”. When you do that the box below will open.
-Levels SOOC (straight out of the camera) -What I adjusted the levels to during editing
Basically what this box is showing you is the amount of black, white and gray in each picture. The little arrows under the big black mountain thing (I know such technical terms!! haha) coordinate their colors with what they adjust. The left is black and it adjusts the black,,the middle is gray so it adjusts the gray, and the right is white and it adjusts the white.
What you want to do is drag in each arrow,,the white and the black,,to either touch or almost touch where the peak of the mountain begins. Each picture will be different so you wont be able to just copy these settings for your picture. You will need to adjust it to what you think looks good. You can also adjust the middle gray arrow to taste. If this were an over exposed picture you would do the same thing and adjust it accordingly. I always always check my exposure during the editing process. Sometimes it doesn’t need any adjusting like I said it depends on the picture. But I usually like to start there when I edit pictures.
This is my before and after! You can see how it made the whites whiter, the blacks blacker, and brightened the dull gray in the driveway and his shirt.
I would love love to see some of your before and afters if you try this out!! Go ahead and post them to my facebook wall!! Cant wait! And if you have any questions you want me to answer please post those as well!
