hi what do u call this? need help

[kopmjj]

hi i wanna edit a video that is very dark and i want to brighten up so i can see background detail that wasnt there before, but then the picture looks weired, i cant describe it but i found a picture on some website showing exactly what imean....here http://img387.imageshack.us/my.php?image=autocontrastdialogueqx7.gif
i done noise reduction and remove artifacts but still doesnt look natural.
can someone tell me what this is and what i need to possibly make it look better thanks.

[Chevy787]

Take a look at this
http://avisynth.org/oldwiki/index.php?page=Tweak .

[kopmjj]

hi thanks for this but what do u call the white bit in the picture i posted is it artifact or something, basically i wanna get rid of that.

[Nightshiver]

Are you talking about the picture on the right side? If so, then the contrast has been set to high.