any help appreciated

[jelady]

I have several photos with lots of shadows that I would like to remove. I downloaded Photoshop and have spent the last few hours searching for help and watching/reading tutorials, but I am just even more confused! I uploaded one of the photos and would love if anyone could give me a few pointers or point me in the right direction. Thanks so much!


http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/...4/jessica1.jpg

[Wolfman]

I used shadow/highlight in Photoshop to open up the shadows and then reduced noise.

[mistermonday]

There are many ways to do this in Photoshop. I would suggest working an a frequency separated version of the image but I see you are very new to PS and so would not suggest it as your 1st choice at this time.
I would suggest you start by running a noise filter on the image to reduce the noise. Next apply a curve adj layer to brighten the image somewhat.
Then using the varius PS selection tools make a loose selection of the areas with the shadows you wish to remove, apply a curve and smooth the edges out with a little dodging and burning. I did some of the neck and the shadow on the background above her right shoulder.
Regards, Murray

[jelady]

Thanks so much for the advice. Now that I see how much improvement is possible, I will just keep practicing!