Photoshop Elements: Reveal Detail in Shadows

Send article Send article Print article Print article

Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6

May 20, 2008

Sometimes the shadows in your photos hide important detail, like this tiny bird in the flowering tree. The bird and the branches of the tree are lost in shadow. In this lesson, we will use a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer to reveal more of the bird's fine feathers and the texture of the tree branches.

Like many other Photoshop Elements tasks, there is more than one way to reveal detail in shadows. Another way to reveal shadow detail is to use the Shadows/Highlights tool under Adjust Lighting on the Enhance menu. To view a video tutorial on this tool, see the Reveal Shadow Detail with the Shadows/Highlights Tool lesson.

Before After

To reveal detail in shadows:

  1. Open the photo you want to use.

  2. Add a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer above the background layer:

    1. In the Layers palette, click the Create adjustment layer icon and select Brightness/Contrast.

    2. In the Brightness/Contrast dialogue, drag the Brightness slider to the right to increase the brightness of all the pixels in the photo. Stop when you see more detail in the shadow areas, but before the shadow area looks blown out. Some other areas of your photo will probably become too bright or blown out. Do not be concerned about the overall brightness of the photo; just concentrate on the area in the shadow that you want to reveal. We'll tweak areas that are too bright in a later step. In the following photo, we've revealed more detail in the bird and branches, but lost that lovely deep color in the sky and blooms.

      Brightness/Contrast adjustment applied
    3. Drag the Contrast slider to the right to increase the contrast until you get the effect you want.
    4. Click OK. The adjustment layer is created and displayed above the background layer in the Layers palette.

  3. Use the Selection Brush tool to select an object in the photo that has been brightened as desired:

    1. Select the Selection Brush tool.
    2. In the options bar, select a soft round brush and set the mode to Mask. In Mask mode, any pixels that you paint will be protected from the next actions you take. In effect, painting in mask mode selects any pixels that are outside the areas you paint.

    3. Paint over the object you want to protect. In this lesson, we painted over the bird. A 50% red overlay appears over the bird.

      Using the Selection Brush in Mask mode

  4. With the selection mask in effect, fill the layer mask on the adjustment layer with black:

    1. Set the foreground color to black.
    2. Press Alt+Backspace or use the Paint Bucket tool to fill the area outside the selection mask with black. The adjustment layer mask appears to be filled with the red overlay, but the selection mask is still active.
    3. Press Ctrl+D to remove the selection mask. We do not need it any more. In this lesson, the bird appears in white on a field of black in the adjustment layer mask. All of the effects of the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer are hidden with the exception of the bird that was masked.

  5. Paint on the layer mask on the adjustment layer to accentuate the detail in the bird and branches while retaining the deep color in the rest of the photo:

    1. Set the foreground color to white.
    2. Select the Brush Tool.
    3. In the options bar, select a soft round brush and change the opacity to about 90%.
    4. In the Layers palette, click on the layer mask of the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer to select it.

    5. Paint areas of the photo in shadow that you want to reveal. To change the brush size, press the left bracket ([) to decrease the size or the right bracket (]) to increase the size. You can also change the opacity of the brush as you work by using the Opacity slider on the options bar. In this lesson, we have painted over some of the branches to reveal more detail. The following figure shows the layer mask after painting:

      Painted layer mask

  6. Optionally, make corrections to the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer settings or layer mask:

    1. In the Layers palette, double-click the layer thumbnail on the adjustment layer to bring up the Brightness/Contrast dialogue again. Make changes and click OK.
    2. Click the adjustment layer mask to select it, then paint with white to reveal more shadow details, or paint with black to hide shadow details.

Tips

I often use this method for revealing small objects in shadow because it is non-destructive and easily adjustable. Both the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and its layer mask are easy to modify.

I use the Shadows/Highlights tool on photos that hide architectural detail or contain much detail in deep shadow. However, you cannot use this tool in an adjustment layer, so it is not as easy to modify your results.

For permission to use an article or resource for educational or non-profit purposes, please contact me at karenb@alibony.com. Commercial use is not permitted.

Updated on November 9, 2009