The Harsh Effect of Using the Brightness/Contrast Commands

The image shows the before (top right half) and after (bottom left half of the image) effect of a Contrast command adjustment. Note the the pavement is too bright and the tree branches are too dark although the mid tones (deer and grass) are improved.
Side note - to demonstrate the before and after effect, I made a copy of the before layer and then added a layer mask to the new layer so that the contrast adjustment would only affect the unmasked part of the top layer (ie, the bottom left half of the image).