PhotoshopElements

About Levels adjustments

The Levels dialog box is a powerful tonal and color-adjustment tool. You can make levels adjustments in the entire image or a selected portion. (To access the dialog box, choose Enhance > Adjust Lighting > Levels.)
Levels dialog box

A.
Channels to adjust color

B.
Shadow values

C.
Middle tones

D.
Highlight values

You can do any of the following with the Levels dialog box:

  • Set the shadow and highlight values to make sure that your image uses the full tonal range.

  • Adjust the brightness of the image’s middle tones without affecting the shadow and highlight values.

  • Fix a color cast by making grays neutral. You can also enhance an image by adding a slight color cast, for example, by adding a warming effect on a sunset.

  • Target shadow and highlight RGB values if you are preparing images for commercial printing.

When you work with Levels, you can work directly on the image pixels or through an adjustment layer. Adjustment layers give you flexibility in the following ways:

  • You can modify an adjustment at any time by double-clicking the adjustment layer to reopen the Levels dialog box.

  • You can reduce the effect of an adjustment by lowering the adjustment layer’s opacity in the Layers palette.

  • You can stack adjustment layers to make multiple adjustments without degrading the image because of too many successive adjustments.

  • You can use the adjustment layer’s layer mask to confine an adjustment to a portion of your image.