How to Brighten a Photo in Photoshop

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial, you will learn how to lighten a photo in Photoshop, without use of Photoshop actions. I will explain everything in so much detail that anyone can do it, even those who have just opened Photoshop for the first time. So if you've ever wondered how to brighten a photo in Photoshop, here's how to do it.

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What You'll Need

To recreate the design above, you will need the following resources:

Stock Image

1. How to Get Started

First, open the photo that you want to work with. To open your photo, go to File > Open, choose your photo, and click Open. Now, before we get started, just check a couple of things:

Your photo should be in RGB Color mode, 8 Bits/Channel. To check this, go to Image > Mode.
For best results, your photo size should be 2000–3500 px wide/high. To check this, go to Image > Image Size.
Your photo should be the Background layer. If it is not, go to Layer > New > Background from Layer.

2. How to Make the Adjustments

Step 1

In this section, we are going to make the adjustments. Press Control-J on your keyboard to duplicate the Background layer.

Step 2

Now go to Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlights, and set the Shadows to 100% and the Highlights to 0% as shown below:

Step 3

Now name this layer Reveal Details.

Step 4

Press D on your keyboard to reset the swatches. Then, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map to create a new gradient map adjustment layer and name it Overall_Contrast_1.

Creating new gradient map adjustment layer

Step 5

Now change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light and set the Opacity to 16%.

Step 6

Select the Reveal Details layer, and press D on your keyboard to reset the swatches. Then, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map to create a new gradient map adjustment layer and name it Overall_Contrast_2.

Step 7

Now change the Blending Mode of this layer to Luminosity.

Step 8

Select the Overall_Contrast_1 layer, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels to create a new levels adjustment layer, and name it Overall Brightness.

Step 9

Now Double-click on this layer thumbnail and, in the Properties panel, enter the settings below:

Step 10

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance to create a new vibrance adjustment layer and name it Overall Vibrance/Saturation.

Creating new vibrance and saturation adjustment layer

Step 11

Now Double-click on this layer thumbnail and, in the Properties panel, set the Vibrance to +38 and Saturation to +20.

Step 12

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves to create a new curves adjustment layer and name it Color Look.

Step 13

Now Double-click on this layer thumbnail and, in the Properties panel, enter the settings below:

Step 14

Press Control-Alt-Shift-E on your keyboard to make a screenshot, and then press Control-Shift-U to desaturate this layer. Then, go to Filter > Other > High Pass and set the Radius to 2 px.

Step 15

Now change the Blending Mode of this layer to Soft Light and name it Overall Sharpening.

You Made It!

Congratulations, you have succeeded! You have learned how to brighten a picture in Photoshop. Here is our final result:

In this way, you can use Photoshop to lighten any image that you like. However, you may need to use slightly different settings of some layers for each photo. Here are a few more final results:

Another final result below: