Adjust shadows and light

The Smart Brush tool and the Detail Smart Brush tool apply tonal and color adjustments to specific areas of a photo. Certain effects can also be applied using these tools. You simply pick a preset adjustment and apply the correction. Both tools automatically create adjustment layers. This feature offers you flexibility in working with your photos because the original image layer is not altered. You can go back and tweak the adjustments and no image information is discarded.

When you apply the Smart Brush tool, it makes a selection based on color and texture similarly. The adjustment is simultaneously applied to the selected area. You can adjust shadows, highlights, colors, and contrasts. Apply colors of the objects in your image, add textures, apply various photographic effects.

You can apply various effects and patterns using smart brush from the available preset options.

However you cannot change the settings of an effect because the layer with the effect is a pixel layer and not an adjustment layer.

The Textures presets help provide the following effects to your images:

• Enhance dull and boring backgrounds.

• Create a Satin effect for clothes/textiles in an image.

• Add flowery patterns to dresses in an image.

• Add designer patterns to walls or backgrounds in an image.

The Detail Smart Brush tool enables you to paint the adjustment to specific areas of the photo just like a painting tool. This tool helps adjust fine details with pattern and effect presets. Painting and applying the preset in small areas is more precise. Click an effect from the drop-down list and paint over the area to apply the effect. You can choose from a range of brushes. It has settings for brush size and shape in the options bar.

It also works like a Selection tool; you can click Refine Edge in the options bar to modify the selection’s shape and size. To remove an area from the selection, click the Remove area from Selection brush.

Both brush tools enable you to add to or subtract from the areas being adjusted. You can also have more than one adjustment preset applied to a photo. Each preset adjustment is applied to its own adjustment layer. You can tweak the settings for each correction separately.

When a correction is made, a pin appears where you first applied the adjustment. The pin provides a reference for the specific adjustment. A new pin appears when a different adjustment preset is applied. This feature makes it easier to modify a specific correction, especially if you apply different adjustments.

Apply the Smart Brush tools

Modify Smart Brush tool correction settings

Change the Smart Brush tool correction preset

Delete a Smart Brush tool correction

Smart Brush pop-up panel

Photoshop Elements lets you apply many different preset adjustments using the Smart Brush tool and the Detail Smart Brush tool . You pick an adjustment from the preset pop-up panel in the options bar. Like all pop-up panels, the Smart Brush preset pop-up panel can be configured. Use the panel menu to display the adjustments as thumbnails or in a list. You can also drag the picker out of the options bar so it floats where you want it in the workspace.

Specific sets of adjustments or all adjustments can be viewed by choosing from a menu near the upper-left area of the panel. The adjustments range from tonal and corrections.

About Levels adjustments

The Levels dialog box is a powerful tonal and color-adjustment tool. You can make levels adjustments in the entire image or a selected portion. (To access the dialog box, choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels.)

You can do any of the following with the Levels dialog box:

• Set the shadow and highlight values to make sure that your image uses the full tonal range.

• Adjust the brightness of the image’s middle tones without affecting the shadow and highlight values.

• Fix a color cast by making grays neutral. You can also enhance an image by adding a slight color cast, for example, by adding a warming effect on a sunset.

• Target shadow and highlight RGB values if you are preparing images for commercial printing.

When you work with Levels, you can work directly on the image pixels or through an adjustment layer. Adjustment layers give you flexibility in the following ways:

• You can modify an adjustment at any time by double-clicking the adjustment layer to reopen the Levels dialog box.

• You can reduce the effect of an adjustment by lowering the adjustment layer’s opacity in the Layers panel.

• You can stack adjustment layers to make multiple adjustments without degrading the image because of too many successive adjustments.

• You can use the adjustment layer’s layer mask to confine an adjustment to a portion of your image.

Improve shadow and highlight detail

Adjust shadows and brightness using Levels

Adjust brightness and contrast in selected areas

The Brightness/Contrast command is best used on selected portions of an image. Use this command to adjust the brightness of an entire image or to reduce contrast results in an image. The Levels and Shadow/Highlight commands are better choices for making tonal adjustments.

Quickly lighten or darken isolated areas

The Dodge tool and the Burn tool lighten or darken areas of the image. You can use the Dodge tool to bring out details in shadows and the Burn tool to bring out details in highlights.

Quickly saturate or desaturate isolated areas

The Sponge tool saturates or desaturates areas of the image. You can use the Sponge tool to bring out or mute the color on an object or area.