Adjusting Brightness/Contrast & Levels

Some of our fondest memories are of vacations & trips with family and friends. Sometimes our pictures don't exactly depict our wonderful memories... They may be too bright or dark, and they may not even show those in the photo well. There are a few easy ways to fix up these photos though:It's always wonderful to have pictures on the beach, especially with the sunset. But with such a beautiful sunset, the focus is taken off the couple a bit.

By adjusting the Brightness/Contrast and Levels, the photo not only looks clearer but it focuses more upon the couple. Brightness/contrast & levels can be auto or manually adjusted; do whatever yields the best results for you.

This next beach picture is a group of friends on the beach
The brightness of the sky & background made them look especially dark...

Adjusting the brightness/contrast and levels in this one really brought out the subjects of the picture. To pump up their eyes and smiles, I also used the dodge tool. Be careful not to go too bright or they start to look fake, though.Something else that could be done to this photo is to take out the busy area between the two guys. By using a combo of the cloning & bandage tool, it's easy to blend the area so it looks like the distractions were never even there.

*Note - the pictures in this post were taken with a point & shoot digital camera, nothing special. My sis took these pictures while she was on vacation in Florida earlier this year.