They say you are not a photographer if Auto Mode is what you depend on. Learning how to have full manual control over your camera can aid you hugely when it comes to manipulating the type of picture you want. Manually controlling things like the aperture can give you brighter pictures with a shallower depth of field, or limiting noise to give you a more dramatic difference when it comes to the dark and light areas of an image.
Forget the auto mode and do things manually. You will be surprised to see the results and you could even let go of that photoshop if you can get it right. Check out this informative graphic on how to adjust your manual settings like Exposure, Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO for best results.
