Increase contrast in part of image: I recently submitted an image in a local Photography Club competition of a shot I took in Venice. It was in a very picturesque waterway side street...

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

I recently submitted an image in a local Photography Club competition of a shot I took in Venice. It was in a very picturesque waterway side street (including gondolas) and included a small foot bridge.

The judge liked the picture, but said it would have been better if I had increased the contrast of the foot bridge ... to in effect create a more separation effect from the background. I have absolutely no idea how I would do that. I know how to edit the overall contrast of an image, but not a small part of the image only.

The editing software I use is PSE 14, and Luminar 2018. Any advice on how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

In Photoshop, there are tools IE. Lasoo…/Magnetic Lasoo... Magic Wand ...Quick Selection Tool. Either of these tools can be used to select the area (of the Bridge) and control Contrast...Brightness...Colour...Tone...Sharpness...Softness...ETC. You should be able to find similar tools in most Editing Programmes. If not, it isn't a very good programme.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Basically, what you would do is process just one part of the image after you isolate it.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/moving-copying-selections.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/making-selections.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/creating-layers.html

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Fredrick wrote:

I recently submitted an image in a local Photograp... (show quote)

You can duplicate the layer, while the new layer is still targeted, create a black layer mask on the new layer by holding down the Alt key and clicking on the create layer mask. Changing to a contrast blend mode - overlay or soft light will increase contrast. But you won't see it because the black layer mask is blocking the entire image. By painting on the layer mask with a white brush you will reveal the high contrast image below - and confining the painting to just the bridge will reveal the high contrast version of the bridge. You can adjust the amount of contrast either by adjusting the opacity of the brush or using 100% opacity and adjusting the opacity of the layer.

Here is a quick video that explains what I just said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhWCKp1skVs

Or you can do as others have suggested and create a selection and adjust only the selected part.Depending on the image, one approach will emerge as more efficient.

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

Fredrick wrote:

I recently submitted an image in a local Photograp... (show quote)

I don’t know how extensive Elements version of Adobe Camera Raw is but, if it is anything like that in Photoshop or Lightroom, you can use the adjustment brush to affect many parameters. Contrast is just one of the many. You can adjust the size, softness and feathering to suit your needs and the task at hand. These brushes can be used on very small parts of your photo

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Pablo8 wrote:

In Photoshop, there are tools IE. Lasoo…/Magnetic Lasoo... Magic Wand ...Quick Selection Tool. Either of these tools can be used to select the area (of the Bridge) and control Contrast...Brightness...Colour...Tone...Sharpness...Softness...ETC. You should be able to find similar tools in most Editing Programmes. If not, it isn't a very good programme.

Thanks. I’ve used Lasoo, but just with Content Aware ... so I’ll try your suggestions.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Gene51 wrote:

You can duplicate the layer, while the new layer i... (show quote)

Just watched the video. Thanks!

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Rich1939 wrote:

I don’t know how extensive Elements version of Adobe Camera Raw is but, if it is anything like that in Photoshop or Lightroom, you can use the adjustment brush to affect many parameters. Contrast is just one of the many. You can adjust the size, softness and feathering to suit your needs and the task at hand. These brushes can be used on very small parts of your photo

Thanks for your suggestion. I haven’t really used the adjustment brush much, so will learn how to do that!

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

jerryc41 wrote:

Basically, what you would do is process just one part of the image after you isolate it.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/moving-copying-selections.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/making-selections.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/creating-layers.html

Jerry, thank you so much! I had no idea there were so many variants of the selection tool. Will try different ones and see which one is better for the bridge.

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Thank you all for your responses! Just love this forum!

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Fredrick wrote:

I recently submitted an image in a local Photograp... (show quote)

In photoshop which only costs $10/mo you can use the quick mask tool combined with the graduated tool to select only a portion of an image and it automatically feathers your changes into the rest of the unaltered image... Very effective for what you want to accomplish.

Here is a pic where I used the technique to lighten the exposure of the bird and darken the exposure of the background. My example was intentionally done in a manner where it is obvious, in the correction you are asking about it would be completely undetectable.

(Download)

Fredrick Loc: Former NYC, now San Francisco Bay Area

Blurryeyed wrote:

In photoshop which only costs $10/mo you can use t... (show quote)

That’s a great effect. Thanks for the advice!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Fredrick wrote:

I recently submitted an image in a local Photograp... (show quote)

In Photoshop I can loop the bridge and increase the contrast within that loop.

pahtspix

I use the NIK "VIVESA" app to do just what you are attempting to do.. As a plug-in to Photoshop it does the job in about 10 seconds!!

Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

pahtspix wrote:

I use the NIK "VIVESA" app to do just what you are attempting to do.. As a plug-in to Photoshop it does the job in about 10 seconds!!

Can you isolate a small part of a photo for adjustment with Vivesa? Or, is that only a global adjustment?