When I photgraph a room I try hard to keep the integrity of the natural lighting of the room.  Unfortunately the dyamic range that a digital camera can capture is not what the eye sees.   Many times what looks good to the eye does not show up quite right in a digital image.  Areas may be to light or too dark for your liking.

Photo 1 I like the exposure in the middle of the photograph and the right hand side of the photograph.  Photo 2 the left had side of the photograph is the exposure I am looking for but the middle and right hand side are too dark for my liking.  Wouldnt it be nice if you could blend the two photographs.

Photo 1                                                                 Photo 2

You can with Adobe Photoshop Elements!!

First make sure the photos are the identical angle taken on a tripod....  and try several different exposures. Then open the two photos you would like to blend in Photoshop Elements.

Set the darker image as the background layer.

Then you are going to take the lighter image and drag it ontop pf the darker image with the mouse.  It essentially creates two layers.  The background lyer which is the darker and then the lighter layer which is the top layer.

Then there are two choices you can freehand the eraser tool or mask the area ( I used the magnetic lasso tool for this one)... depends on how good you are and the area your trying to fix.

Then you will fiddle with the eraser tool and blend the two images.  What ever you erase on the top image will start to show throught to the bottom image.

Eraser Tool

1  Fiddle with the Brush size and fall off

2 Adjust the opacity... usually start around 20% and see how that works

3  I did the opacity at a 100% which is definitely overdone but it completely erases the top image down to the bottom image

Before's

After- What I was trying to accomplish was getting detail in the left side of the photograph.... the lamp shade the window the wall....  and get a more natural balance of the lighting.

This technique is much easier than you think.  The tools in Photoshop Elements are easy to use once you know which ones you should be using.  Give it a try and good luck!!

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This post was provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate In Tewksbury MA. You can contact Kevin by email at kevin@kevinvitali.com or call 978-360-0422. 

I pride myself in the quality of my work while helpingbuyers and sellers make dreams come true. 

Real Estate Services in the northeast Massachusetts, around the Merrimack Valley, Southern New Hampshire including the towns of Andover, Billerica, Boxford, Chelmsford, Dracut, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Merrimac, North Andover, Newbury, Newburyport, North Reading, Rowley, Tewksbury, Tyngsboro, Westford, Wilmington, West Newbury