[jpzk]

I must be brain dead or something but what I mean is this:

You have a picture of, let's say, a large room where you'd like to have accented lighting in some specific areas of the photo, while you'd also want specific areas of that same photo to be less "lit".

Is there any way to do this in Photoshop? ... or any other software for that matter?

Any suggestion(s) welcomed!

Cheers.

JP

P.S.: the title is confusing but I hope you will get my point.

[gnodde]

Just select the area(s) you want to lighten up, and increase brightness. After that inverse the selection and decrease the brightness of the rest of your photo.

Jan.

[jpzk]

Just select the area(s) you want to lighten up, and increase brightness. After that inverse the selection and decrease the brightness of the rest of your photo.

Jan.

Well, that seems like an easy way to do it ...

I mean, would you use layers, layer masks, etc.?

Thanks for the reply.

JP

[AOShep]

I'm sure there are better experts then me in the forum, but this is how I would do it. Create 2 layers, one for the highlights and one for the shadow areas. Adjust each layer independently for the optimum lighting in its area. I would make the dark layer the top, but that's up to you. Use the eraser tool and set the brush hardness to 0 and opacity to around 30%, maybe a little lower depending on the difference in the contrast of your two layers. Start erasing over the areas you want lighter repeating over the portions that need to be lighter allowing you to feather the effect for a smooth transition.

[wildman]

You have a picture of, let's say, a large room where you'd like to have accented lighting in some specific areas of the photo, while you'd also want specific areas of that same photo to be less "lit".

Is there any way to do this in Photoshop? ... or any other software for that matter?

It's called "vignetting".
Just do it manually by using the burn and dodge tool or there are plenty of plugins like NIK that will do it.

[NoMaD_PS]

U all doin' it wrong guys

The PS is great thing because it has masks. Mask is the most powerful tool imo.

You need to create 2 layers with different light. Or even 3 - light, normal, dark. You can make 2 pics from RAW converter with +- Exposure, or you can decrease brightness in PS in different ways.

Then cover your 'dark' layer with black mask. And with soft white brush draw the area where you want. Hardness 0 and opacity about 5%, constantly changing the brush size. You will get soft gradient white area in the mask. In this area the original layer will be covered with your 'dark' one.

Why masking? You can change the mask any time you want just by switching between black and white brush with different opacity. also you can copy/move the mask to another layer. Even invert the mask or save it for another use. Other methods like erase or burn are final.

[cats_five]

I would do this using a single raster layer. Create it (I found I had to create a solid colour layer, then delete the contents when it asked me if I wanted to rasterize it), then set the blend mode to overlay. If you paint on the layer with something darker than mid-grey it darkens the image, something lighter than mid-grey lightens it. It's easy to undo if you don't like the changes, and you want to use nice soft brushes so there is no obvious hard edge. If you hide the layer below with the image you will see where you have dark and light areas. Because you are painting you can also use the eraser to rub out where it's wrong.

[atupdate]

Here is a very easy step-by-step tutorial.

Move the Light - Tutorials

I've used it several times.

Tim

[artobest]

NoMaD PS is right. Along with custom layer blends, masks are perhaps Photoshop's most powerful feature, and certainly the simplest non-destructive way to make adjustments like the OP needs. Personally, I'd try a masked curve layer to start with, this'll help keep your file size down.

[Rupert]

I use Light Machine, a plug-in , and have found it to be a fast and simple control of light in specific locations of a photo. The control is superb and it is quick and easy to use. It has become one of my most used programs.
Here for example, the peanut was too dark to recognize.....just a short few clicks and it came out pretty balanced with the rest of the photo.

Disregard the noise, it was shot at ISO 6400 and no NR used. I'm sure it would cleanup nicely....

[IMG] [/IMG]
Regards!

[Kammerer]

A couple of other-than-Photoshop tools that I like:

• The "Darker/lighten center" filter in Nik Color Efex. You can move the "center" to any place in the image.
• Nik Viveza lets you add control points to the image, which you then use to change brightness/contrast/saturation of the selected area.

These are not as flexible as layers and masks, but are very easy to use - no painting required.

[PhilippeG]

Oh my, you guys like to complicate things
Adjustment layers have been created precisely for this. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > then choose the kind of adjustment you want. In jpzk's case I'd use Levels or Curves.

1. This is a picture with a dark corner of the top left, I'd like to lighten it a bit.




2. I add an adjustment layer (here I use curves) to lighten the shadows. You'll notice the mask is all white, so the curves are applied to the whole image.




3. Click on the mask (it has a border when it's selected) and fill it with black, so the curves are no longer applied and we see the original image.




4. Use a brush or airbrush or any other tool to "paint" the mask where you want the curve to apply with white.



So, why are adjustment layers better?
- one single layer
- non-destructive, if you double-click on the settings icon you can tweak the curves/levels/whatever again
- easier to understand than lightened/darkened copies of the original image with blend modes and masks

In Lightroom you can do the same, but with an interface and wording that make more sense for photographers: you over/under expose and "paint" it where you want in the picture. It's also non-destructive.

[reeftool]

The Lightroom adjustment brush does a great job and is quick and easy. Besides allowing you to go as much as 4 stops under or over, you can also adjust brightness, contrast , saturation, clarity, sharpness, and color to just certain areas of the photo. It comes in especially handy with my DA 10-17 as there is often somewhere in the shot that is a little overexposed, usually at the top or side edges with the 180 degree FOV it offers at 10mm. In Lightroom, you click on the brush icon and the menu pops up on the right of the screen where you can choose size and the adjustments you want and then just paint away. As Kammerer mentioned, it's non destructive. You can also adjust the sliders after you have painted in the areas to get it just right.

[Rupert]

I'll still go with Light Machine...only one click and you have light. You can adjust it as much or as little as you like, including the area and the intensity.

No layers, just one click
Attachment 99661

Regards!

[cats_five]

If you use one of the lasso tool to select the area you want to affect first. Make sure you have some 'feather' and then create the layer the mask will get created at the same time. You can still adjust the selection later by painting and erasing on the layer.

Standard, Polygonal and Magnetic Lasso Tool in Photoshop CS5