How's this...

[TamiAz]

I brightened her eyes using a video I found online, I lightened her up, added contrast and sharpened. How did I do?

Before:

After..Playing around in Photoshop Elements..

 

[photo guy]

I think a little too light. Nice Try

 

[MTVision]

You brought the exposure too much. Her white jacket is blown now and it wasn't in the SOOC. Her skin tone looks off. Be careful with the contrast - it can make skin wonky.

Have you looked up how to do a clean edit on a photo??

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

it can make skin wonky

I agree with what was said. You pushed it a bit too much.

 

[TamiAz]

You brought the exposure too much. Her white jacket is blown now and it wasn't in the SOOC. Her skin tone looks off. Be careful with the contrast - it can make skin wonky.

Have you looked up how to do a clean edit on a photo??

Yeah, I thought her sweater looked a little too bright..

I'll look up how to do a clean edit... You posted a link to a website for PSE a while ago. It had a bunch of tutorials on it. Can you post it again??? I remember looking at it once, but I didn't bookmark it for future use.

 

[KmH]

You should start with a better photo exposure.

The original is very under exposed.

When you edit an under exposed digital photo by increasing the exposure you also increase the image noise.

The orignal should have been a vertical and you should not have brightened the background so much.

Learn how to use the selection tools Elements has. By using selections you can edit locally in the image rather than editing the entire image (globally).

Look close and you can see the 'marching ants' (black and white dotted line) that define the selection. I saved the selection. The selection was still active when I copied Layer 1, so only what was inside the selection got copied to Layer 2. What was outside the selection was made transparent, which Photoshop indicates with little gray and white squares.
To make her brighter, but no the background, I changed the blending modde of Layer 1 to 'Screen'. By using screen instead of increasing the brightness or exposure, image noise is not made more visible. When I made the Layer 2 copy the Screen blending mode was also copied making her to bright, and I lowered the Opacity on layer 2 copy to make her less bright.
I made Layer 3 as a new layer set to the 'Soft light' blending mode and given a 50% gray fill. I used layer 3 to dodge (brighten) the whites of her eyes. The gray fill turns white where i applied the dodge. i could also use Layer 3 to burn (darken) parts of the photo.

Screen Shot: I did no editing in the background. Make a note; Since I saved the selection of Sophie and the pole, as long as I have the image open I can re-load the saved selection. AND I can load an INVERSE of the selection so everyting EXCEPT Sophie and the pole are then selceted.

Here I boosted the Vibrance a lot, and the saturation a little bit: Just her and the pole though, no editing in the background:

 

[MTVision]

Yeah, I thought her sweater looked a little too bright..

I'll look up how to do a clean edit... You posted a link to a website for PSE a while ago. It had a bunch of tutorials on it. Can you post it again??? I remember looking at it once, but I didn't bookmark it for future use.

Www.photokaboom.com

Can't remember the website but look up Texas chicks blog - she has some pse tutorials too.

 

[KmH]

Add www.elementsvillage.com to your Favorites list. it's a Photoshop Elements discussion forum.

 

[TamiAz]

Yeah, I thought her sweater looked a little too bright..

I'll look up how to do a clean edit... You posted a link to a website for PSE a while ago. It had a bunch of tutorials on it. Can you post it again??? I remember looking at it once, but I didn't bookmark it for future use.

Www.photokaboom.com

Can't remember the website but look up Texas chicks blog - she has some pse tutorials too.

That's it!! Thank you!!

 

[TamiAz]

You should start with a better photo exposure.

The original is very under exposed.

When you edit an under exposed digital photo by increasing the exposure you also increase the image noise.

The orignal should have been a vertical and you should not have brightened the background so much.

Learn how to use the selection tools Elements has. By using selections you can edit locally in the image rather than editing the entire image (globally).

Look close and you can see the 'marching ants' (black and white dotted line) that define the selection. I saved the selection. The selection was still active when I copied Layer 1, so only what was inside the selection got copied to Layer 2. What was outside the selection was made transparent, which Photoshop indicates with little gray and white squares.
To make her brighter, but no the background, I changed the blending modde of Layer 1 to 'Screen'. By using screen instead of increasing the brightness or exposure, image noise is not made more visible. When I made the Layer 2 copy the Screen blending mode was also copied making her to bright, and I lowered the Opacity on layer 2 copy to make her less bright.
I made Layer 3 as a new layer set to the 'Soft light' blending mode and given a 50% gray fill. I used layer 3 to dodge (brighten) the whites of her eyes. The gray fill turns white where i applied the dodge. i could also use Layer 3 to burn (darken) parts of the photo.

Screen Shot: I did no editing in the background. Make a note; Since I saved the selection of Sophie and the pole, as long as I have the image open I can re-load the saved selection. AND I can load an INVERSE of the selection so everyting EXCEPT Sophie and the pole are then selceted.

Here I boosted the Vibrance a lot, and the saturation a little bit: Just her and the pole though, no editing in the background:

Thank you... I really do appreciate all your help!! I am working on getting my exposure right. I'm a little frustrated, but I'll keep at it!!

 

[KmH]

In your user's manual, read about the 3 light metering modes you have available to choose from.

When I shoot people I use Spot metering, because it's the most accurate of the 3 metering modes.

The EXIF info for that photo indicates you used either Matrix or Center-weighted metering.