Take a look at this discussion with @mikemyers. It is one of a couple in which we discuss just that subject and show how to adjust things.
There’s also this very long thread amongst which you might find sections of the thread which discuss retrieving shadow detail in contre-jour shots, like starting from this post
If you want to discuss your photos, why not start a new thread with an example and we can look at the kind of images you want to perfect and show you how to go about it best in PL?