Preserved Topic: deadening an image

Hello, I'm new here

I have a very dark photo that can be brightened and look rather normal. The point of the dark photo is that it looks black until your eyes adjust to it and the object stands apart barely. What I want to do is "deaden" the colors and lighting so it can't be easily brightened and the object made clear enough to see more than dark on darker silhouet.

how can that be done?

I dont want to desaturate it, but could the darkness be made to contain nothing, like maybe under-exposed film?

Using Curves by Steve.

I read that. If I screw with the shading then the effect of the image is gone. I need another way to go.

Curves will work.
You just have to figure out how to "tighten" the darks.

Or you can try Image > Adjust > Variations.
Or you can get fancy with Image > Apply Image.
Or you can get even fancier with Image > Calculations.

If you can't figure it out, post the pic and we'll take a whack at it.

*bang*...consider it dead....


other than that WJ is *bang on* no pun intended so go have a play come back, show us what ya got and someone can give you some more specific pointers...


*runs round the corner grabs cookie tray and screams manically*