User Guide

CHAPTER 4
62
Fixing Your Photos
4 Select an adjustment type in the second step of
the Quick Fix dialog box. The text in the Tip
section provides helpful information and instruc-
tions about using the selected adjustment.
5 Some adjustments give you options to set, and
others have default options you can apply
automatically. Depending on the adjustment you
selected, one of the following options will be
available to you in the third step of the Quick Fix
dialog box:
• If there are options to set, drag the slider to the
left to decrease the value, or drag it to the right
to increase it.
• Click Apply to apply the default adjustment
values to the preview image.
6 To undo or redo adjustments made in the Quick
Fix dialog box, you can do any of the following:
• Click Reset Image to start over and undo all
adjustments you’ve set in the current Quick Fix
dialog box.
• Click Undo for each successive adjustment
you’d like to undo. Note that you can click Undo
to undo the Reset Image command.
• Click Redo for each adjustment you’d like to
redo that was undone.
7 To apply the adjustments to your image,
click OK.
Adjusting the range of dark and
light tones in an image
You can adjust the tonal relationships between
pixels in an image using a variety of commands
with different levels of control in Photoshop
Elements. Of all the features for adjusting tonal
values, the Levels dialog box gives you the most
precision.
Using the Levels dialog box
The Levels dialog box lets you correct the tonal
range and color balance of an image by adjusting
intensity levels of the image’s shadows, midtones,
and highlights. The Levels histogram serves as a
visual guide for adjusting the image’s key tones.
Note that dragging the gray slider in Levels has no
effect on the black and white points of the image.
You can set the highlights and shadows in an image
by moving Input sliders to the first group of pixels
on both ends of the Levels histogram. This maps
these pixels—the darkest and lightest pixels in
each channel—to black and white, increasing the
tonal range of the image. The corresponding pixels
in the other channels are adjusted proportionately
to avoid altering the color balance. You can use the
middle Input slider to change the intensity values
of the middle range of gray tones without dramat-
ically altering the highlights and shadows.
To adjust tonal range using Levels:
1 Do one of the following:
• To make adjustments to your entire image,
choose Select > Deselect to make sure nothing is
selected. If your image has multiple layers, select
a layer to adjust in the Layers palette.
• To make adjustments to a portion of your
image, make a selection in the document
window. See “Selecting pixels” on page 114.
2 Do one of the following:
• Choose Enhance > Adjust Brightness/
Contrast > Levels.