A need for a Contrast brush option

[Mike2019]

PSP 2019. Often when restoring old photographs I find I have a need for a Contrast brush which can be used the same as the Lighten/Darken controls. Something you can brush over a small area of the picture where there has been fading and lack of definition. Is there some way of doing this?
I did think of a lengthy workaround, selecting an area, cutting and pasting it, adjusting contrast and then try to replace it in the original image but not exactly a quick option and would be difficult to get a pixel to pixel fit.
Has anyone any other ideas, or perhaps a Contrast brush could be invented for a future edition; or perhaps the option is there already and I haven't found it yet?
Thanks in advance.

[ehume]

Off the top of my head I can think of a couple of options I might try if I was in your shoes: I would go to Layers on the Menu bar and select New Adjustment Layer. Pick the adjustment you like. Try a few. Then I would see if I could shrink/turn/shape the constrained layer to apply to the area I wanted. You would end up with the equivalent of a Contrast Brush.

Or you could save a working copy of your original. Make a selection on it that covers the part you want to change. Now see what effect you get. My experience has been that changes only apply to the area selected.

What do the experts say?

[Jean-Luc]

Hi Mike,
I need such contrast brush too...

In the meantime, duplicate the layer and apply the needed contrast.
Move the contrast layer under the untouched layer and erase the untouched layer.

You may sometimes also use the Sharpen brush (not exactly what you wanted but may give a little punch).

[Mike2019]

Thanks folks that's given me some things to try; such a pity there isn't a contrast brush already in the program. Perhaps it should go on the wish list?
Mike.

Update: Just tried the duplicate layer workaround and that does seem to work.

[hartpaul]

Note also that when you change the contrast that also changes the saturation or vividness of colors. To avoid this you can use a Brightness /Contrast Adjustment layer and set the blending mode of that to Luminance.
You can then change the contrast of the image without changing the color. Then you just use a black or grey brush with low opacity to decrease the effect in areas required.

[Mike2019]

Thanks Hartpaul; most of my work is on B&W which I often then colour so would be altering areas on contrast in B&W.

[Jean-Luc]

Note also that when you change the contrast that also changes the saturation or vividness of colors.

Yes, the Brightness/Contrast tool (Shift+B) changes the saturation or vividness of colors. It should be improved by Corel.

I prefer Histogram adjustment (Ctrl+Shift+M) -> Midtones/Expand : it doesn't modify colors.

[ehume]

Note also that when you change the contrast that also changes the saturation or vividness of colors.

Yes, the Brightness/Contrast tool (Shift+B) changes the saturation or vividness of colors. It should be improved by Corel.

I prefer Histogram adjustment (Ctrl+Shift+M) -> Midtones/Expand : it doesn't modify colors.

Good to know. I'll try that for my next contrast adjustment. Heretofore I have used my Raw editor (Silkypix 7) for adjusting contrast before I get to PSP.