Reply to thread

To decrease the darkness of the blues inside the swirl, it would be best to select them using one of the selection tools, then do a layer adjustment or image adjustment for hue/saturation, like spruce said -- I suggest going to layers>adjustments>hue/sat rather than image> adj. so that you can easily make changes later if you want -- but this time use the saturation and/or lightness sliders.

I have an example. I wasn't sure how many of the shadows you wanted lightened. When you do your selection, zoom in to pixel level for this particular image, so that you can control what the quick select or magic wand is selecting. Use the alt/opt with either tool to remove area. The polygonal lasso could be helpful at this level also.

BTW, If you want to keep the yellow areas yellow, let us know and someone can help you do that. There are several ways.

Hope we're helping.

PS As stated above, It would be helpful if you have the original image, depending on the quality you want in the end product. It definitely has some rough edges and you may well find one of us who could help you with ways to remove the white better.