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The quickest and easiest way to brighten the photo is to simply turn up the brightness. This will work in any editing program, but as we will see it isn’t always the best option.

In the Effects menu (Edit or Adjust in some programs) roll over Adjust Lighting, and select Brightness/Contrast.

By moving the Brightness slider to the right, the overall brightness of the entire photo is increased, which makes the shadows far too light, so we have to adjust the contrast slider to the right as well. This produces an approximation of the correct exposure, but the lighter areas of the shot have been brightened to the point where they are burned out, losing all detail in the background, as well as the highlights on the subject’s hair and shoulders.

In the majority of image editing programs the Brightness/Contrast control is useful as a simple way of making adjustments to graphic images such as charts or illustrations, but it’s not really suitable for photographs. However it is worth noting that the latest version of Adobe Photoshop has a greatly improved Brightness/Contrast control that preserves shadow and highlight detail.

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