Fine-tune tone curves – Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 v.14.xx User Manual
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Exposure (All)
Contrast (All)
Highlights (PV2012)
Shadows (PV2012)
Whites (PV2012)
Blacks (PV2012)
Blacks (PV2010 and PV2003)
Recovery (PV2010 and PV2003)
Fill Light (PV2010 and PV2003)
Brightness (PV2010 and PV2003)
Adjusts the overall image brightness. Adjust the slider until the photo looks good and the image is the desired brightness.
Exposure values are in increments equivalent to aperture values (f-stops) on a camera. An adjustment of +1.00 is similar to opening the aperture 1
stop. Similarly, an adjustment of -1.00 is like closing the aperture 1 stop.
Increases or decreases image contrast, mainly affecting midtones. When you increase contrast, the middle-to-dark image areas
become darker, and the middle-to-light image areas become lighter. The image tones are inversely affected as you decrease contrast.
Adjusts bright image areas. Drag to the left to darken highlights and recover “blown out” highlight details. Drag to the right to
brighten highlights while minimizing clipping.
Adjusts dark image areas. Drag to the left to darken shadows while minimizing clipping. Drag to the right to brighten shadows
and recover shadow details.
Adjusts white clipping. Drag to the left to reduce clipping in highlights. Drag to the right to increase highlight clipping. (Increased
clipping may be desirable for specular highlights, such as metallic surfaces.)
Adjusts black clipping. Drag to the left to increase black clipping (map more shadows to pure black). Drag to the right to reduce
shadow clipping.
Specifies which image values map to black. Moving the slider to the right increases the areas that become black,
sometimes creating the impression of increased image contrast. The greatest effect is in the shadows, with much less change in the midtones and
highlights.
Attempts to recover details from highlights. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details from areas in which one
or two color channels are clipped to white.
Attempts to recover details from shadows, without brightening blacks. Camera Raw can reconstruct some details
from areas in which one or two color channels are clipped to black. Using Fill Light is like using the shadows portion of the Photoshop®
Shadow/Highlight filter or the After Effects® Shadow/Highlight effect.
Adjusts the brightness or darkness of the image, much as the Exposure property does. However, instead of
clipping the image in the highlights or shadows, Brightness compresses the highlights and expands the shadows when you move the slider to the
right. Often, the best way to use this control is to set the overall tonal scale by first setting Exposure, Recovery, and Blacks; then set Brightness.
Large Brightness adjustments can affect shadow or highlight clipping, so you may want to readjust the Exposure, Recovery, or Blacks property
after adjusting Brightness.
Learn More: Watch the video tutorial
by Matt Kloskowski. See also,
video tutorial by Terry White (8:07).
Fine-tune tone curves
Use the controls in the Tone Curve tab to fine-tune images after you’ve made tone adjustments in the Basic tab. The tone curves represent
changes made to the tonal scale of an image. The horizontal axis represents the original tone values of the image (input values), with black on the
left and progressively lighter values toward the right. The vertical axis represents the changed tone values (output values), with black on the
bottom and progressing to white at the top.
If a point on the curve moves up, the output is a lighter tone; if it moves down, the output is a darker tone. A straight, 45-degree line indicates no
changes to the tone response curve: the original input values exactly match the output values.
Use the tone curve in the nested Parametric tab to adjust the values in specific tonal ranges in the image. The areas of the curve affected by the
region properties (Highlights, Lights, Darks, or Shadows) depend on where you set the split controls at the bottom of the graph. The middle region
properties (Darks and Lights) mostly affect the middle region of the curve. The Highlight and Shadows properties mostly affect the ends of the
tonal range.
To adjust tone curves, do any of the following:
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