HOW IT works Adjusting A tone Curve
Discover how to manipulate tones with a selection of tools and sliders, and by dragging points on a curve
01
Preview It helps to see a before and after version of an image to compare edits with the tones captured in-camera. Click the ‘1/1’ icon at the bottom.
02
Basic Palette
Toggle open the Advanced tools. By dragging the Shadows slider right, we can selectively lighten shadow detail. By dragging the Highlights slider left, we can selectively restore some detail to the blown-out sky.
03
tone curve Palette
Click here to access the more powerful and selective tone tweaking tools, so you can improve on what you started in the Basic palette.
04
auto lighting optimizer This tool can lighten underexposed shadows in a click. Reveal detail by dragging the slider towards Strong.
05
lighten the shadows
This point on the curve has been dragged upwards. As it overlaps the shadow section at the left of the histogram, shadows and midtones have been lightened, revealing detail in the darker parts of the image.
06
mid-point By placing a control point in the middle of the diagonal line, you can separate the adjacent curve control points, enabling you to independently adjust shadows on the left and highlights on the right of the curve.
07
darken the highlights
By pulling the highlight control point downwards, you can create a curve that remaps the image’s highlights to a darker value. This restores detail in the initially overexposed sky.
08
Brightness
The darkest shadows have a tonal level of 0, which is completely black. The Brightness slider gives the darkest shadows a higher output level, resulting in them looking lighter. Don’t push this too far or the shadows will look washed out.
09
go straight
This button changes curves between control points into straight lines, for a subtle change in the tonal tweaks produced by the curve. Click back on Curve to restore the original results.