Help with dark pictures

[RP33]

I need a little help on some of my pictures. They are dark and when I use levels to lighten them they get washed out. Is there anyway to save them or are they just trash? I usualy try levels then USM or High Pass but I cant get them to look right. I am still having problems knowing when to use HP or USM or both also.

I will post an example of the pictures I am having problems with, if you want to try please help and let me know what adjustments you made. I have elements for PP. I hope you can help me save these pictures and my state of confussion.:?

[creeduk]

OK make a duplicate layer, USM to above desired level. Now on PS use a mask on Elements erase the background areas, as theonly area needing USM is the area of interest (the players) Then I used a slight curve tweak to add just a bit more punch to the shot. I only spent 5 mins on this to give you the idea.

[VTphotog]

I just used the shadow/highlights on this (shadows 75, highlights -3, midtone contrast +50 ) (Elements 3)

did a slight denoise and USM of r 2.4 amount 35, and level 4

Got much better results, though, with Photoimpact.

brian

[VTphotog]

In Photoimpact, I used the HDR tool, with a preset for the FZ10, just to see what it would do. Seems to be pretty good. Copied this and layered over original in luminosity mode, and transparency of around 20. Very slight touch of denoise, and USM using same settings as with Elements.

I think it turned out quite a bit better.

brian

[creeduk]

Second one seems to have made highlight blow out worse though, suprised as HDR should help prevent that.

[VTphotog]

creeduk wrote:

Second one seems to have made highlight blow out worse though, suprised as HDR should help prevent that.

I think it was just that I was not paying enough attention. Sometimes the HDR function does favor shadows and midtones, and loses highlights, but this can be corrected with adjustments. I do like the way it gets detail out of shadows, though. Using it with a single exposure tends to emphasize dark noise as well, so it works best with exposure bracketing. Not possible with this type of picture, though.

brian

[Africa]

Lasso around players and far edge of floor.
Desaturated the background -20.
Invert, applied Levels and USM = Amount 400, Radius .7, Threshold 1.

Africa