A little advice please

[asysin2leads]

I can't share the images because the family didn't give me permission to post them on the net so I'll be as descriptive as I can.

There is a group of trees. The family want each kid behind a different tree. There are 4 kids to be in the picture. Each kid is wearing white shirts (yuk) and blue jeans. The 2 kids in the front are lit exactly as they should be, but the 2 kids in the trees behind them (about 6 feet back) are darker. If I lighten the entire image, I blow out the shirts of the front 2. The 2 kids in the front are on the sides of the image and the kids in the back are in the middle of the image. Is there a way to lighten just the middle portion of the image w/out affecting the outer edges? I have PS CS3.

I hate that I can't post one up to show. Oh, the shot was taken w/ on-camera flash. I didn't have access to power in order to power my strobes or I would have done that. Any thoughts will be most appreciated.

[Mikefromearth]

Absolutely, simply use the dodge tool located in the toolbar in photoshop. It's a brush that allows you to selectively lighten an image. The opposite would be the burn tool, which will make a select area darker.

[asysin2leads]

Absolutely, simply use the dodge tool located in the toolbar in photoshop. It's a brush that allows you to selectively lighten an image. The opposite would be the burn tool, which will make a select area darker.

I'll try that. Thanks.

[Joelene]

layers!

create three layers. colour correct and adjust each layer to expose the part of the image you want correctly exposed. then mask the layers and erase what you don't need. for example..

top layer for the darker kids in the back, middle layer for the lighter kids in the front and the original " background" layer for comparison.

brighten up the top layer, then mask it deleting the bottom half of it, leaving a visual of the middle layer, which you have exposed properly... then merge...

G'luck! i really hope i made some sence...

[asysin2leads]

layers!

create three layers. colour correct and adjust each layer to expose the part of the image you want correctly exposed. then mask the layers and erase what you don't need. for example..

top layer for the darker kids in the back, middle layer for the lighter kids in the front and the original " background" layer for comparison.

brighten up the top layer, then mask it deleting the bottom half of it, leaving a visual of the middle layer, which you have exposed properly... then merge...

G'luck! i really hope i made some sence...

I always work in layers. I learned that the hard way a while back. I was able to lighten up the back section of the image by the marquee w/ a feather of about 10 and brightening that section. It worked extremely well and only took about 30 seconds. It was done in 3 layers. I didn't think it would work, but it did. I printed an 8x10 here and you can't even tell the difference.

[Digital_zen]

Also you can hit "Q" on your keyboard for a quickmask, then use a brush with your foreground color set to black (though it will paint as transparent red on the QM) set your brush hardness to a low number or zero, paint whatever you want effected by any filter, adjustment, etc. then hit "Q" again and apply filter, adjustment etc.
This way you only need to create one duplicate of your original layer, just in case you do too many things to step backward to undo.

[asysin2leads]

Also you can hit "Q" on your keyboard for a quickmask, then use a brush with your foreground color set to black (though it will paint as transparent red on the QM) set your brush hardness to a low number or zero, paint whatever you want effected by any filter, adjustment, etc. then hit "Q" again and apply filter, adjustment etc.
This way you only need to create one duplicate of your original layer, just in case you do too many things to step backward to undo.

Makes sense. I totally forgot about the quickmask. Thanks.