How to adjust Brightness or Contrast in Photoshop CS6 -Destructive method

There are various ways of changing the brightness/contrast of an image.Here we shall discuss the method that is destructive which means that the method makes permanent changes to the image.The disadvantage of using this method is that if later we are not satisfied with the brightness/contrast changes,we cannot modify the brightness/contrast levels again.Also we cannot get back the original image again.
It is advisable to make a copy of the original image.

                                                    Before                              After
1) Opening the image in the Photoshop window

Open the image that is underexposed (means the one that needs to be brightened) in Photoshop CS6 by using the menu File > Open or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +O.This will open a dialog box.Select the image by clicking on its name and click on Open button.

 

















This will open the image as a Background layer in the Layers Panel.

2) Selecting the Brightness/Contrast option

After we see the image in Photoshop window we need to open the Brightness/Contrast dialog box.For this we need to select the Brightness/Contrast option.So we will go to menu Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast ...

3) Brightness/Contrast dialog box

 We can now see a Brightness/Contrast dialog box where we can change the brightness/contrast levels by moving their sliders towards the left or right.

Moving the brightness slider towards the left will decrease the brightness of the image while moving it towards the right will increase the image brightness.

Similarly moving the contrast slider towards the left will decrease the contrast of the image while moving the slider towards the right will increase the image contrast.

We will keep the Preview checkbox checked on so that when we make any changes to the Brightness or Contrast values we can directly see the effect on the image.

4)Closing the Brightness/Contrast dialog box

 After being completely satisfied with the brightness/contrast changes we applied to the image we will click on the OK button to exit the Brightness/Contrast dialog box. When we look at the layers panel on the right side of the photoshop window we see that the changes we made have applied directly to the image and no new Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer has been created.

5) Editing the Brightness/Contrast adjustments 

If immediately after pressing the OK button of the Brightness/Contrast dialog box we feel that the changes are not satisfactory we can get rid of the changes by selecting the menu Edit > Undo Brightness/Contrast or by using the shortcut keys Ctrl + Z .Alternatively we can choose menu Edit > Step Forward or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Ctrl +Z.

Note that this can only be done immediately after exiting the Brightness/Contrast dialog box .Once we perform any other operation after exiting the Brightness/Contrast dialog box we will not be able to change the adjustments using the Edit menu.

6)Saving the image

After we are satisfied with the adjustments we will save the image by selecting the menu File > Save or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl +S.This will open a dialog box where we can write the name of the image.After typing a name click on Save button.