We know very well that taking pictures requires patience and pulse, but nowadays every moment is good to bring out the camera or smartphone and take the shot with people or a landscape. At the moment we hardly recheck the goodness of the shot, but it is while cold that we can realize that the photo was not taken with the best light conditions, with a dark photo in the faces or in its entirety.
Instead of deleting the photo, we can try to correct light defects using the brightness and contrast parameters present in the vast majority of programs and photo editing apps.
We find out in this guide how to adjust brightness and contrast on PC and on Android and iOS smartphones.
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How to adjust brightness and contrast on PC
There are numerous free photo editing programs available on PC, so we will focus on these to perform photo correction, without having to download pirated or cracked versions of Photoshop (which we remember is a paid program developed by Adobe at a cost of several thousand EUR).
Let's find out the best free programs to brighten dark and dark photos.
1) GIMP (Windows, Linux, Mac)
The first program we can use to adjust brightness and contrast on any PC (and with any operating system) is GIMP, downloadable from the link here -> GIMP .
Once installed, all we have to do is start it and load the offending photo by dragging it into the program window or using the menu in the upper left corner File -> Open .
Once the dark photo has been opened in the program, we can make the necessary corrections using the Brightness-Contrast item in the Colors menu.
A small menu will open with two parameters adjustable via slides, useful for changing the brightness and contrast of the photo present in the program.
We move the indicators towards positive values slowly until we find the right compromise between real brightness and brightness induced by the program (we do not exaggerate with the values, sometimes even just +5 or +10 are enough to give a decidedly brighter photo than the original) .
As soon as we are satisfied with the result, click OK and save our new photo as a new image by clicking on File -> Export As and choosing the preferred name and image format.
2) Paint.NET (Windows)
Another program that we can use on PC to adjust brightness and contrast to dark photos is Pain.NET, available for free download from here -> Pain.NET .
This program is decidedly more powerful than the old Paint built into Windows, offering a large number of tools for photo editing.
Once the program is installed, all we have to do is start it and load the dark photograph into it, simply by dragging it into the interface or alternatively using the File -> Open item .
Once the photo has been loaded into Paint.NET, we can adjust the brightness and contrast using the Auto Balance item in the Adjustments menu.
This feature allows you to automatically get a good compromise between the various parameters of the photo and is able to solve the problem of dark photos in the vast majority of cases.
If the automatic balancing has had no effect and / or we want to act manually we will have to open the Brightness / Contrast item present in the Adjustments menu.
A new window will open with the two slides useful for adjusting the brightness and contrast of the photos.
As already seen with GIMP, we slowly move the two slides to obtain small positive values (+5 or +10 should be enough) and correctly arrange the dark photos.
At the end we click OK and save the correct photo by clicking on File -> Save As so as to differentiate it from the original photo.
How to adjust brightness and contrast on Android and iOS smartphones
Correcting the brightness and contrast values on smartphones is much simpler than doing it from the PC, this is because the apps are designed to be always simple and within everyone's reach.
We discover in this part of the guide the best apps to adjust brightness and contrast on smartphones.
1) Pixlr (Android and iOS)
On your smartphone or tablet with any operating system we recommend trying the Pixlr app, downloadable for free from here -> Android and iPhone .
Once downloaded to the portable device, start it and use the Photos button to open the gallery of photos taken on the device.
Choosing the dark photo to correct we will see the various function keys appear at the bottom; select the button on the left (Tools) and use the Auto Correction and Automatic Contrast items to make corrections automatically using the special recognition software.
The result should already be discreet using only these two items, which correct the brightness, the color range and the contrast to get the best result.
If we want to manually change the brightness and contrast we will have to use the Adjustment item present in the tools menu and then use the Contrast and Brightness items present in the lower bar.
The slide to adjust is present at the bottom of the app; as already recommended on PC programs, we use small correction values until we find the perfect result to correct the dark photo.
At the end, confirm by tapping on the confirmation symbol V at the bottom and save a copy of the photo by tapping on the top right on Done .
2) Adobe Photoshop Express (Android and iOS)
Another app that we can use to correct the brightness and contrast of dark photos is Adobe Photoshop Express, available for free here -> for Android and for iPhone (iOS).
Compared to the PC version, this app is provided for free but has only basic functionality, however more than enough to correct the brightness problems of our dark photos.
Once the app is installed on the mobile device, all we have to do is select the dark photo, open the menu below relating to the adjustments and use the Contrast, Lights and Shadows functions to correct the dark photos.
The app is designed to make corrections completely automatically, but we can improve the effect by using the slid at the top above the various items to adjust each individual parameter (select the parameter and act on the slide).
If we want to try other photo editing apps, we recommend reading the guide below.
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