Photoshop - The Dodge Tool

I took a photo in Aix last Thursday evening. It looked great in real life but I was disappointed with the photograph. The sky, although very beautiful, overpowered and lacked contrast with the foreground buildings. 

I read that our eyes have the capability to retain contrast no matter what we focus on. Unfortunately, modern day cameras are still very inferior to our eyes! These means you get the following imbalance of exposure. 

Is there a solution? Well yes, photoshop's Dodge tool (shortcut O) adds to brighten dark areas. Choose between highlights/midtones/shadows and levels of exposure (5-8% seems best) and have a play with brightening and balancing any photo.

Here's the original....

And here is the dodged image....

Okay, so it doesn't look very real and my sister even thought it looked like a video game, but we both agreed it looked better. I need a steadier hand and more practice, I should also invest in a mouse (because my Sony's mousepad sucks) but once you know how to dodge, it's good fun uncovering all that hidden colour.

You get the idea, so good luck dodging!