Originally Posted by
Peeshan
One quick and easy technic that I often use is (the idea behind is similar to HDR photography):
1. make two duplicate, one Darken Only and one Lighten only (in that order most of the time)
2. with level tool, generously push up the black on the DarkenOnly and the white on the lighten only (often to keep a crisper contrast I also reduce the grey to 0,92 or so on the lighten only layer)
3. reduce transparency of both layer, for example 80% darken only and 70% lighten only
That way it's easy to control the output and avoid burning or losing details on the darker part of the picture, or on the contrary to provoke a high contrast. then it's up to you to find the ideal combination, sometime even merge to the lighten only layer a bright screen layer if you need to boost the lightness, and so on.
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