Super Quick Photo Brightening

This is a simple Photoshop tutorial on my favorite way of brightening up a photo really quickly. It's super easy, so even if you're a total novice, you can do it! Here we go!

STEP ONE:

 Open up your photo in Photoshop.

STEP TWO:

Go ahead and make a layer copy of your photo by either right-clicking it and selecting "Duplicate Layer..." or by dragging the layer over to the little layer icon down below the layers palette.

STEP THREE:

Click the layer type menu just above your layers list and set the duplicate layer to "Screen."

STEP FOUR:

Click on the "Layer" drop-down menu at the top of the program and select "Merge Visible" or press Ctrl + Shift + E to merge your photo back down to a single layer.

BEFORE AND AFTER:

And you're all done!! This is a great way to brighten up a photo if it's already in pretty good condition, color wise. 

HELPFUL HINTS:

Depending on your photo, you may want to repeat this process a couple of times to make it even brighter. 

If you make a layer copy and screen it and it appears way too bright, simply reduce the opacity of the layer until you hit the desired brightness.