[diannecp]

I have an old photo I'm working with. Part of the photo (the pertinent people) are right in the sun - it's not hideous or unusable but i'm wondering if there is a way in Photoshop (CS5) to just edit that part of the photo. When I adjust brightness, etc., it affects the whole photo and that doesn't work. Any suggestions appreciated!!

[Becster]

Not familiar with that program but you could always duplicate it (as a new layer), adjust the new layer to your liking and then erase the parts that were over-adjusted. Then merge the layers.

[PBarnes]

That's a really good suggestion Becky! There almost always is more than one way to do things in the graphics programs. I know in PSE you can do a selection and do adjustments on what's selected. If you use the selection method, you'd probably want to make your selection with the polygonal lasso tool and a pretty large amount of feathering. Becky's way is probably faster.

[MariJ]

Wow, I learn so much reading these threads! Thanks for the question and great answers!

[April Showers]

I usually duplicate the photo and do the adjustment to the top layer and mask out the parts I don't need. Kind of the same as what Becky said, but if you use a mask, it isn't permanent like the eraser. Makes it a lot easier to change.

[Heatheranne]

I've done it both ways that have been mentioned. The masking seems to be the most forgiving, because you can use a hard brush in the central area, then go to a very soft brush for the outer edges. Sometimes, I like the effect that I get when I make a selection like Becky and Pat have suggested, but there's another selection method that I really like to use at times. Make a loose extraction by using the quick selection tool with a bit of a feather, on a duplicate of the photo, then invert the selection and delete the outer portion of the photo. Now, go to the first layer photo and using the filter, gaussian blurr, add some blur to it. 15 might be nice, but it's something that you can play with. When I have a photo that I don't really like the background to, I use this technique and get a bokeh effect that I really like. I know that there are also other things that you can do, but had to mention one of my faves. I hope that I've been clear enough, but if not, just mention it and I'll give more detail. Have a scrappin' good day! :-)

[Becster]

Great suggestions! I really don't know how to use masks, and I need to make that my next thing to learn. I always forget about it until someone mentions it. I tend to automatically revert to my base learning curve from when I was using nothing but PSP7 for making 100x100 icons/avatars for Live Journal!

[diannecp]

wow, such great ideas i never thought to try. i just need to take it a little further now and see which works for this photo. thanks for chiming in, everyone!!