Adjust tone in Camera Raw

You adjust the image tonal scale using the tone controls in the Basic tab.

When you click Auto at the top of the tone controls section of the Basic tab, Camera Raw analyzes the camera raw image and makes automatic adjustments to the tone controls (Exposure, Recovery, Fill Light, Blacks, Brightness, and Contrast).

You can also apply automatic settings separately for individual tone controls. To apply an automatic adjustment to an individual tone control, such as Exposure or Recovery, press Shift and double-click the slider. To return an individual tone control to its original value, double-click its slider.

When you adjust tone automatically, Camera Raw ignores any adjustments previously made in other tabs (such as fine-tuning of tone in the Tone Curves tab). For this reason, you should usually apply automatic tone adjustments first—if at all—to get an initial approximation of the best settings for your image. If you are careful during shooting and have deliberately shot with different exposures, you probably don’t want to undo that work by applying automatic tone adjustments. On the other hand, you can always try clicking Auto and then undo the adjustments if you don’t like them.

Previews in Adobe Bridge use the default image settings. If you want the default image settings to include automatic tone adjustments, select Apply Auto Tone Adjustments in the Default Image Settings section of the Camera Raw preferences.

Note: If you are comparing images based on their previews in Adobe Bridge, you may want to leave the Apply Auto Tone Adjustments preference deselected, which is the default. Otherwise, you’ll be comparing images that have already been adjusted.

As you make adjustments, keep an eye on the end points of the histogram, or use the shadow and highlight clipping previews.

While moving the Exposure, Recovery, or Blacks slider, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) to preview where highlights or shadows are clipped. Move the slider until clipping begins, and then reverse the adjustment slightly. (For more information, see Preview highlight and shadow clipping in Camera Raw.)

To manually adjust a tone control, drag the slider, type a number in the box, or select the value in the box and press the Up or Down Arrow key.
To reset a value to its default, double-click the slider control.

Exposure: Adjusts the overall image brightness, with a greater effect in the highlights. Decrease Exposure to darken the image; increase Exposure to brighten the image. The values are in increments equivalent to f‑stops. An adjustment of +1.50 is like widening the aperture 1‑1/2 stops. Similarly, an adjustment of ‑1.50 is like reducing the aperture 1‑1/2 stops. (Use Recovery to bring highlight values down.)
Recovery: 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.
Fill Light: 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.
Blacks: Specifies which input levels are mapped to black in the final image. Increasing Blacks expands the areas that are mapped to black. This sometimes creates the impression of increased contrast in the image. The greatest change is in the shadows, with much less change in the midtones and highlights. Using the Blacks slider is like using the black point slider for input levels when using the Photoshop Levels command or the After Effects Levels effect.
Brightness: 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.
Contrast: 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. Generally, you use the Contrast property to adjust the contrast of the midtones after setting the Exposure, Blacks, and Brightness values.