Dear friends, can You remind me what is the tool to apply sharpening/contrast increase to part of the image. I remember there was a tool like "burn", "dodge", "sponge", that can be applied locally. But now I can't find it (after my Dad installed new Photoshop). Thank You very much in advance. AnthonyJr.

AnthonyJr, not sure which vers you're using but you can type the letter o and the Dodge/Burn/Sponge tool will be selected. For me the tool is located fourth down on the right side of the second segment of tools... :) retrocity dodge=lightens burn=darkens sponge=saturate/desaturate

Thank You retrocity, but I have dodge, burn and sponge as You described. Everything is ok with them But there was sharpening (or contrast - I don't remember exactly) tool, that could be applied in that very way - klike a brush. Now we have Photoshop 7.0 and I cannot apply sharpening or increase contrast to part of an image - only to whole of it. Is there such a possibility? Thank You, Anthony Junior.

One way i do it is to make a selection of the area (using the lasso tool) then call up the IMAGE --> ADJUST --> BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST dialog box and move the sliders around to were i want. This will affect only your selection.

You can also make your selection and select a brush, change the blend mode of the brush to "colour burn", drop the opacity down (20% or so) and paint away on your selection and this will affect (darken) only your selection. By dropping down the opacity, you can "build up" on your sharpening/contrast with more control. Each pass over will make it darker.

hope it helps...
:)
retrocity

or you could do another thing......save your current state as a history state.......and then apply whatever effects you want....set this as your history state and source for the history brush......now go back to the previous history state (before you applied the effects)...and then take whatever brush you want (you will probably want a soft-edged brush)...and paint in the effects using the history brush...that's all!! and if u are slightly confused with my instructions...just ask...retro's better at all this...i just try...:-)

The sharpen tool is the seventh tool down from the top, on the left. It's in with blur and smudge. Hold down that button to pop the hidden tools out. You can also cycle through them using SHIFT+R (on Mac. probably the same on Win but I'm not sure) Sharpen looks like a triangle. I'm assuming this is the sharpen tool you are talking about as it's the only one that can be applied with a brush. It only sharpens however, giving the pixels a harder less aliased edge. It does not affect contrast.

Oh, thank You all so much for the different techniques You suggested. I've tried them and that was what I asked. Have a nice weekend, Anthony Jr.