angedawn
02-28-2006, 10:52 AM
I don't think I've ever talked about levels adjustments here before, so I figured today would be a good day to do that! :) Using a levels adjustment is the most common way I fix photos that are a little too dark or a litlte too light.
Here's what you need to do.
Open your photo and then click on the little circle that is half black and half white at the bottom of the layers palette. This should bring up a menu with one option being Levels.... Select Levels.
This brings up a graph, and at the bottom there should be three triangles. One over by the blacks on the left, one over by the whites on the right, and one in the middle. You need to look at the graph, and slide the black sider over to the right to where the data starts showing up on the graph. Often times this means you don't have to slide it at all if the data goes all the way to the left. Then look at the white triangle. Click on it and slide it to where the data starts on the right. Just by doing these two steps you should see a dramatic improvement in your image. The middle slider can be used to lighten or darken the image by moving it to the right or left, respectively.
Try some levels adjustments on your photos, even some that seem so black that they can't be rescued can sometime be fixed just with levels. :)
You can see an example (an extreme example) of using Levels here:
Layout (http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8069&cat=500&ppuser=8)
Here's what you need to do.
Open your photo and then click on the little circle that is half black and half white at the bottom of the layers palette. This should bring up a menu with one option being Levels.... Select Levels.
This brings up a graph, and at the bottom there should be three triangles. One over by the blacks on the left, one over by the whites on the right, and one in the middle. You need to look at the graph, and slide the black sider over to the right to where the data starts showing up on the graph. Often times this means you don't have to slide it at all if the data goes all the way to the left. Then look at the white triangle. Click on it and slide it to where the data starts on the right. Just by doing these two steps you should see a dramatic improvement in your image. The middle slider can be used to lighten or darken the image by moving it to the right or left, respectively.
Try some levels adjustments on your photos, even some that seem so black that they can't be rescued can sometime be fixed just with levels. :)
You can see an example (an extreme example) of using Levels here:
Layout (http://www.scrapartist.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8069&cat=500&ppuser=8)