Tag: Levels

Levels adjustments are one of the most basic yet most important things you can do when enhancing photos. The levels tool will usually display a histogram which shows you whether the tones in your image cover the full range from solid black, on the left of the scale, to solid white on the right.

If they don’t, you can then move black point and white point sliders to line up with where the histogram does actually start and end to maximise the tonal range of your picture.

It’s a quick and simply way to maximise contrast and tonal without clipping (cutting off) any details in the extreme shadows and highlights. You don’t have to do it with every single image – some look best with low contrast – but it’s one of the handful of core adjustments you’ll find yourself doing again and again.