THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU’LL EVER DO TO A PHOTO
Levels in
action
Produce a wide
range of results by
adjusting the Input
Levels sliders
in the Levels
command
Correct
exposure
Here we’ve dragged the
black slider right until
it just touches the graph
(at the Input Level of 42).
This gives the shadows
in the original image a
slightly darker value,
while preserving tonal
detail in the shadows.Original
exposure
In this example we’ve
reset the black and grey
sliders to their original
positions. The over-
exposed shot already
had strong highlights, so
as we dragged the white
slider left to 223 it has
clipped the highlights.Darkened
for impact
In this example we’ve
dragged the black slider
further to the right to an
Input Level of 82. This
creates much darker and
more dramatic-looking
shadows, although it
loses some detail in the
darkest tones.Creative
interpretation
Here we set the black
slider to 58 to darken
the shadows. We then
set the Channel menu
to Red and dragged
the grey slider to 0.62.
By darkening the Red
midtones we added a
green cast to the shot.