How to Correct Contrast in Adobe Photoshop Elements

If the Auto Fix features on Adobe Photoshop elements don’t produce an attractive contrast which is the mixture of light and dark in your image. You can use the levels feature for greater accuracy.

In full level or quick fix mode with an image open choose Enhance, Adjust lighting, levels. In the dialogue box that appears, a histogram which looks like a bar chart, displays how the pixels are distributed at each of the 256 levels of brightness or tones in your image. Shadows are on the left. Midtones are in the center and highlights are on the right.

A peak in the graph indicates a high number of pixels of that brightness value. A flat section in the graph indicates a low number of pixels. In the input levels area used to improve contrast, move the black triangle to the right to darken shadows or move it to the left to lighten them.

An alternative method is to manually enter values from zero through 255 into the input levels boxes. Use whichever method gives you the best control or best results. Move the white triangle to the left to lighten the highlights or to the right to darken them. Move the great triangle to the left the light in the midtones or to the right to darken them.

After you correct the contrast in your image, click OK to apply the adjustment. If you’re not happy click reset and try again. If you can, avoid using the simple but less effective brightness and contrast command. It just doesn’t give enough control over your images. Levels enable you to adjust 256 levels of brightness whereas brightness and contrast adjust all tones equally without regard to areas that don’t need adjusting.