INTRODUCTION
Adjustment layers come with a mask that allows control of the area being adjusted.  Several adjustments can be made to various areas of a picture.  Here adjustments will be more pronounced either in the light areas or the dark areas of the entire picture.

OPEN A PICTURE AND COPY IT TO MEMORY
Open Photoshop Elements in the Full Edit mode.  Click File + Open (or hold the Ctrl key and tap the letter O key) > select a picture such as a landscape with dark and light areas > click Open (becomes Background on the Layers palette) > click Select + All (or Ctrl + A) to select the picture > click Edit + Copy (or Ctrl + C) to copy the picture to memory.

CREATE AN ADJUST LAYER AND PASTE THE PICTURE IN THE LAYER MASK
Select “Create adjustment layer” (top of Layers palette) + Hue/Saturation > click OK > hold the Alt key and click the layer mask (right hand square on the adjustment layer) > click Edit + Paste (or Ctrl + V) to paste a grayscale of the picture in the layer mask.  Notice that the light areas are white and the dark areas are black with shades of gray in between.

ADJUST HUE/SATURATION WITH GRAYSCALE IN MASK
Double click the Hugh/Saturation adjustment layer control (box on left side of palette) > move sliders and observe results (light areas of the picture are affected more than the dark.)

ADJUST HUE/SATURATION WITH INVERSE GRAYSCALE IN MASK
Hold the Alt key and click the layer mask (right hand square on the adjustment layer) > click Filter + Adjustments + Inverse (or Ctrl + I) to invert the layer mask > double click the Hugh/Saturation adjustment layer control (box on left side of palette) > move sliders and observe results (dark areas of the picture are affected more than the light.)

TRY A DIFFERENT ADJUSTMENT LAYER
Repeat the above procedure for the Photo Filter adjustment layer.  Actually it can be applied to most of the adjustment layers.

CONCLUSION
This procedure allows adjusting the light areas of a picture more than the dark areas.  By inverting the mask, dark becomes light and the adjustments apply more to the dark areas of the original picture.

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