Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Adjusting Lighting and Contrast
The Levels section of the Adjustments panel lets you make sophisticated adjustments to pho-
tos' brightness and contrast. You may be surprised: Sometimes problems you
thought
stemmed from exposure or even focus can be fixed with these commands.
Levels
If you want to understand how Levels works, you're in for a long, technical ride. But if you
just want to know what it can do for your photos, the short answer is that it adjusts their
brightness by redistributing their color information. Levels changes (and hopefully fixes!)
both brightness and color at the same time.
If you've never used a photo-editing program before, this may sound rather mysterious, but
photo pros will tell you that Levels is one of the most powerful commands for fixing and
polishing pictures. To find out if its magic works for you, click the Auto Levels button at the
bottom of the Levels section.
Figure 4-9
shows what a big difference it can make.
What Levels does is complex.
Chapter 7
has loads more details about what's going on behind
the scenes and how you can apply this command more precisely.
NOTE
Although the Auto Levels and Auto Contrast buttons appear at the bottom of each tab in
the Levels section (Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights), they always work on your
entire
image, so you get the same result no matter which tab is displayed when you click these
buttons.
