When I selected then level adjusted the dark parts of this photo it just looked muddy or icky. Please help me here or direct me to the appropriate tutorial. Thanks so much.
Susan

I think you'll need to post a .jpg (not zipped) saved for web, at about 100K or a little less. The image you posted doesn't give us anything to work on. Welcome aboard!

Ed

Susan, I'm not sure what "dark areas" you selected, but I think the problem lies in the image being 'saturated' in the shadows (esp. on the horse & rider). I was able to bring out a bit more detail with Curves, but there's really not much here to work with. Ed is probably right about the image you posted; maybe the original has some extractable detail. Regardless, I've attached what little I may have brought out from the shadows (sticks, riders face & jacket) This makes a mess of the horse which should be masked from the Curves adjustment. Hope this helps some.
- Mark

I added a second photo....
I didn't know how to get it under 100K...just kept making it smaller..3x5. I'm sure there is some easier way..I'm not familiar with the save for web window..I usually just jpeg and zip. THANKS!!!!!

I will continue to fool with it and use curves adjustment..the original is a huge tiff file (not raw though) so there may be hope. Such a sunny day yet lots of shade and I left my flash at home!!
Thanks again!

I checked the channels, and it doesn't look like there is any detail in places like the horse's neck. I duplicated the layer, and set the blending mode to screen. It lightened it up, but I couldn't pull more detail out.

Ed

Hi goodstella,

Welcome to RP! :pleased:

I tried to work on your picture, but it's too small in size, therefore, not enough details to work on .... :o:

Here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4398) and here (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?p=75171#post75171) you can find help about resizing attachments for RP ...