Photoshop Elements: Improve Contrast and Color by Adjusting Levels

Send article Send article Print article Print article

Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6

March 18, 2008

You can use the Levels command to quickly improve the contrast and color in your photos at the same time. To adjust the levels in your photos, do one of the following:

  • From the Enhance menu, select Auto Levels. Photoshop Elements will automatically apply a levels adjustment to your photo. The Auto Levels command works well and, if you are satisfied with the results, you may not need to use the Levels window.
  • From the Enhance menu, select Adjust Lighting, then Levels. The Levels window opens where you can view the histogram and make your corrections.
  • In the Layers palette, click the Adjustment Layer icon and select Levels. A new adjustment layer is created and the Levels window opens. This is the most versatile option because you can make changes to your settings at any time.

Quick Fix

In the Levels window, the quickest way to fix your photo is to do the following:

  1. Drag the black point slider to the right until it reaches the place in the histogram where the dark pixels start to increase in density.
  2. Drag the white point slider to the left until it reaches the place in the histogram where the light pixels start to increase in density.
  3. Click OK.

Levels window

Before After
Lighthouse before Lighthouse after

Adjust Each Color Channel

In the Levels window, you can work on the Red, Green, and Blue channels and the RGB channel individually. Sometimes, if the quick fix doesn't produce the desired result, working on each color channel will - and can produce some dramatic results.

Before After
Skies before Skies after

Use the Eyedroppers

Another way to adjust the levels is to use the eyedroppers to find the darkest, lightest and midpoint gray pixels in the image. This comes in handy sometimes when adjusting for color casts.

  1. Select the left eyedropper (black point) and click on an area of the photo that is supposed to be black.
  2. Select the right eyedropper (white point) and click on an area of the photo that is supposed to be white.
  3. Select the middle eyedropper (midpoint) and click on an area of the photo that is supposed to be neutral gray. (In the image below, it was among the feathers.)
Before After
Turkey before Turkey after

Related Articles

Using the Histogram

For permission to use an article or resource for educational or non-profit purposes, please contact me at karenb@alibony.com. Commercial use is not permitted.

Updated on November 9, 2009