PBase

Any ideas? I'm using Photoshop CS.

Such as this one:

Try Enhance>Lighting>Highlights and Sjadows. By moving the skiders, you can sometimes get the improvement you are looking for.

Or try opening a Duplicatre Layer; click on the eye of the Background layer to keep it from showing through. That way you will be able to see how the eraser tool is working. Now use the eraser tool on the parts of the top layer you think need improving. You can adjust the Opacity adjustment to vary the affect. Then Click on the background so that you can see the background coming through. Use levels or Highlight & Shadows to adjust the background until you lighten up the backlit subjects.

These are two approaches to your problem, but others may have a quicker method to share.

In CS and CS2 there is a shadows and highlight tool can do wonderful things at times

Make two duplicate layers.

Temprarily "blind" the top layer (turn off the visibility of the layer by clicking on the little "eye" icon to the left of the layer)

Activate the middle layer immediately under the layer you've just turned off.

Open the "Curves" dialoque box in ONLY this fashion; click on the IMAGES link at the top-left of the page,>Adjustments>Curves

Adjust the RGB curve to brighten the image (click on the middle of the curve line and push it up) and judge ONLY the face of your subject.

Reactivate the top layer, and click on the "eye" icon...

Click on the Erasure tool and adjust the tolerances to 50%. Make sure your brush has a soft feather or blend to it... resize it to cover the face of your subject.

Place the brush over the face of your subject and click ONCE! See the effect, and continue to click until you get the balance you're looking for.

This yields GREAT results most of the time.

Phil

True, "Highlight Shadows" is a fantastic tool. I used to play with levels, but this one does the best job, saves a lot of time. The reason - 90% of most photos usually have dark shadows.
But you can play with highlights as well.

zlazk
http://www.pbase.com/zlazk