Here is a photograph included as an attachment with this forum posting.
It's quite dark in the foreground and background.

I haven't been able to lighten up the person in the foreground enough to make
a reasonably viewable photograph.

I've tried basic enhancements like contrast, lighting and sharpen, but the person in the photograph doesn't get too recognizable given the darkness of the picture in general.

The photograph in the attachment is in its original form without my attempted enhancements. I converted it to a small kb size for this posting, but on my computer I am working with this photograph at a size of 1.2 mb.

Does anyone want to take a crack at this photo?
The basic goal is to create an image where the man in the portrait is recognizable.

For anyone who is successful, I would greatly appreciate a brief outline of what steps you took to achieve the results. I have about a dozen similar photographs that I would enhance if they are not too far gone.

Thanks for participating!

Attached Images

dark photograph.jpg (33.6 KB, 13 views)

I wish that I could help but good luck. I know there are some great photogs here and they might have some suggestions.

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Serena Thomas

If you are working in Photoshop, you could try using curves -- when I use it on the small photo you attached, it looks like it might help the photo a bit, but it's very hard to tell whether it will be recognizable because it is extremely pixelated.

If a picture is too dark, there may be no way to salvage the details -- because the details just aren't there.

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My blog

Thanks for the tip.
The results are in the attachment with this forum posting.
It's not a great difference, but it's something.

Attached Images

	dark photograph.jpg (33.6 KB, 3 views)
	dark-photo-enhanced.jpg (59.3 KB, 4 views)

Try using the Shadows and Highlights adjustment. As mentioned, it's hard to tell from the attached photo, but it looks like it may help.

Attached Images

Dark Image.jpg (17.4 KB, 41 views)

Thanks for the tip about the Shadows and Highlights adjustment.
It helps a bit.

Does Elements have channels? If so, you might want to check which channel is the best..red, green, blue. If you can get your hands on a Katrin Eismann book (it's for Photoshop though), she has all kinds of examples of how to correct old photos. I'd play with Levels or curves or channels , if Elements has these options. I don't know if Retouch Pro would have a tut on lightening it, but they are a great photo site.

Adobe might have a free action that might help. I don't know hardly anything about actions, but I seem to recall there being a bunch that do stuff to photos.