How to Adjust Light and Shadows in Photoshop Elements

If the Auto Fix features in Adobe Photoshop elements aren’t producing the results you want, you can manually fine-tune to lighting of an image using the shadows highlights feature.

In full level or Quick Fix mode with an image open, choose Enhance, Adjust Lighting, Shadows and Highlights. In the dialogue box, the preview option is already selected to show to the lighting adjustment automatically applied to your image.

To fine-tune the adjustment, move the sliders to light and shadows, darken highlights or adjust the midtone contrast. Midtones are areas of medium brightness. Try to get as much detail as possible to show in the dark and light areas of your image.

If you’re satisfied, click OK to apply the adjustments. If you’re not satisfied with the results, press the Alt key on your keyboard or the option key on the Mac and click reset to try again. The shadows highlight adjustment works well with backlit images which are images shot with light coming from the back plus this adjustment does a good job of correcting harsh shadows and images that were shot in bright midday light coming from above.