Dark/brightness removal

[Maniac000]

K, I took a picture of my brother at his college graduation last week. We were under a tent so when I took the picture the background is really bright and my brother himself is dark. You can still make him out in the picture, but it looks like a shadow has covered his body. How can I remove the darkness from him and reduce the brightness in the background? I tried using levels and gradient, but it wasn't working like I hoped it would >_>

[Papa]

Sounds like your camera/you measured the exposure for the outside rather than your brother. Next time make sure you measure the exposure on your brother. Have him in the middle Half click to measure exposure and then frame him outof the center get a better composition.

To fix it...Did you shoot in RAW? I'm assuming you didn't. I would say the best way is to try and use levels, dodging and burning. However if you shot in RAw it's a totally different story.