As I mentioned last week, there are some simple ways to globally brighten a photo, such as using your photo editor's brightness and contrast controls. I prefer to improve shadows more tactically adjusting the shadow itself, leaving the rest of the photo alone.

If you are lucky enough to have , then this kind of edit is a snap. Indeed, perhaps the easiest way to punch up your shadows is to use that program's Adjustment Brush. This feature lets you paint a mask onto any part of your photo and apply selected edits to that region, like exposure, brightness, saturation, and more. Even better, the Adjustment Brush is smart enough to detect edges as you paint, so you can easily follow the contour of a subject--just like using a smart selection tool in Photoshop Elements.

you can see how I made a dramatic improvement in the exposure of the sailor by painting him with Lightroom's Adjustment Brush and then setting the exposure correction to about 1.

What if you don't have Lightroom? Well, if you have Photoshop Elements, you can try the Shadows/Highlights enhancement I described last week. Or you can try the next technique, which works in Photoshop Elements and any other photo editor that lets you work with layers.