Adjust color curves

The Adjust Color Curves command improves color tones in a photo by adjusting highlights, midtones, and shadows in each color channel. For example, this command can fix photos with silhouetted images resulting from strong backlighting, or slightly washed-out objects that were too close to the camera’s flash.

In the Adjust Color Curves dialog box, you can compare and choose different tonal presets by selecting from the list of styles in the Select A Style box. To fine-tune the adjustment, adjust the highlights, midtone brightness and contrast, and shadows.

Adjusting color curves in an image
A.
Select a Style (choose from presets)

B.
Adjust Sliders (custom options)

  1. In the Editor, open an image.
  2. To adjust a specific image area or layer, select it with one of the selection tools. (If no selection is made, the adjustment applies to the entire image.)
    To preserve the original photo while experimenting with tonal adjustments, adjust the color curves in a duplicate layer.
  3. Choose Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Color Curves.
  4. Select a style (for example, Backlight or Solarize).
  5. Adjust the sliders for Highlights, Midtone Brightness, Midtone Contrast, and Shadows.
  6. To apply the adjustment to your image, click OK. To cancel the adjustment and start over, click Reset. To close the Adjust Color Curves dialog box, click Cancel.