C + C welcome, I am new at this. . .

[dfwnoff]

I am very new at photography (just got a Canon digital camera) and I was playing around on Pixelr last night. I know I need to lighten this somehow but I can't figure out how on Pixelr without washing the whole photo out. The first picture is the original photo, the second picture is edited.

 

[ronlane]

I'm not familiar with Pixelr but you need to lighten the shadows.

Even with that, your best bet is to re-shoot using off camera fill flash or to have the cat facing the window, so that you get the face lit.

 

[dfwnoff]

I wish she would cooperate for that, but I have to catch her in the moment. What is fill flash? I didn't use any flash for this- probably should have. I was trying to lighten when editing but that's what I am saying, it completely washes out the whole picture (looks like a white gauze is pasted on the pic) instead of letting me just light shadows. . . Does that make sense now?

 

[ronlane]

fill flash would be using an off camera flash (speedlight) or a reflector to add some light back in to the subjects face.

lightening the entire photo will cause the windows to wash out. Bringing up the shadows, will only effect the dark areas of the photo. The other way to do it is to just and adjustment brush to paint in the the effect only on the cat.

 

[Designer]

I messed with it a bit.

If you use flash, aim your flash at the wall behind you. Or some kind of largish white thing. Even a white shirt on a hanger would do it.

 

[dfwnoff]

Thank y'all for the feedback! Is there anything else you see that I should work on?