Dodge tool in Photoshop

Here's a photo of paint tubes that was pretty dark when taken, as you can see in the original on the bottom. The photo at the top has been adjusted with the dodge tool, adding brighter highlights to the white & colored areas, and leaving the shadows as they were. It's more subtle than some of the other bolder and more obvious tricks I've seen in Photoshop so far. I can see how this one can be a real asset for a photo where you're just trying to enhance the natural elements instead of push the boundaries with design.