TUTORIAL
Open the document you wish to color correct in your version of Photoshop. I will be using the following image:
As you can see, the trees and sky look very dark and murky. We are going to lighten the photo so everything is lighter and crisper.
With your document open in Photoshop, take a look at your layers palette (figure 1):
To make this correction, you have to unlock the Background and turn it into its own layer. To unlock it, double click on the layer named Background in your layers palette. A dialog box will pop up asking you to name the layer. Just accept the default for now by clicking OK. Your layers palette will now look like this (figure 2):
Next, you need to duplicate the layer file. There are a few different ways of doing this. You can use [command+j] or you can drag your layer down to the small 'new layer' icon on the bottom of the palette (figure 3):
Once your layer is copied, make sure the top one is selected like so (figure 4):
Now take special notice of the blending options menu (figure 5):
Blending two layers is a fast and easy way to create many different effects without fancy filters or massive Photoshop knowledge. The blending options are how we are going to quickly change the look of the photo (figure 6):
This first example is how the image looks with the top layer set to overlay:
Not so great. So we try another blending option. This is an example with the top layer set to multiply:
Wow, even worse. Next we try it with the top layer set to screen, here is an example of that:
Much better! You can see the individual trees and the overall tone of the photo is brighter and crisper.
All that is left to do now is flatten your image and save (figure 7):
DISCLAIMER: This trick works with just about every kind of photo, BUT not all. Some photos will require much more intense correction.
TIPS TO REMEMBER:
To lighten an image try screen
To darken an image try multiply
To intensify the saturation of an image try overlay
