Digital Toolbox: Secrets of Elements

Brightness and Contrast

The best way to adjust these two important aspects of your photo is by using the Elements version of Curves, a tool new to Elements 6. It's located in a rather improbable place -- buried way down in the Enhance menu, under another submenu.

Step 1
Since the Curves dialog isn't available as an Adjustment Layer (as in Photoshop), the first thing to do is to make a copy of the Background Layer. This will let you control how much of your adjustment you'd like to see, and to get rid of it easily. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer, and click OK in the dialog box.