Adjusting lighting

You can use the Lighting tool to adjust areas in an image that are too dark or too light, without affecting other areas of the photo. You can also simultaneously lighten dark areas that are too dark, and darken areas that are too bright. Examples would be a photo of a person silhouetted against a bright background like the sea, or a window. In fact, most photos taken on a dull day, or with a flash, can be improved in various ways with fine adjustments.

You can save your settings as a preset to use again.

The Lighting tool lets you make quick and easy adjustments using three sliders. ACDSee 12 analyzes the photo and varies the adjustment throughout the image automatically. For example, darker images are brightened more. By clicking the Auto button, you can have ACDSee 12 fully analyze the photo and set the slider positions automatically. You can also click directly on an area of the image to generate automatic settings optimal for that area (usually the subject of the photo).

To open the Lighting tool:

In Edit mode, in the Exposure/Lighting group, click Lighting.

To add light to dark areas:

1. Drag the Highlights slider to the right to add light to the dark parts of the photo.
2. Adjust the settings using any of the controls in the table below.

To darken areas that are too bright:

1. Drag the Shadows slider to the right to lighten and return detail to areas that are too dark.
2. Adjust the settings using any of the controls in the table below.

To adjust midtones that are too light or dark:

1. Drag the Midtones slider to the right to lighten and return detail to areas that are too dark.
2. Adjust the settings using any of the controls in the table below.

Lighting controls

Right-click on a slider	Right-click on a slider to reset it.
Exposure Warning	Click the Exposure Warning to make any overexposed or underexposed areas visible. Overexposed pixels turn red, underexposed pixels turn green. You can also toggle Exposure Warning on and off momentarily by holding down the E key.
Auto	Click to allow the software to analyze the photo and apply optimal settings based on the amount of light and dark pixels in the photo. Darker photos are brightened more than photos that are already bright.
Done	Click to apply your changes and close the tool.
Cancel	Click to discard all changes and close the tool.

Click Reset to clear your changes and reset to default settings. If you saved your changes, you cannot reset your settings.

See also:

• Adjusting image exposure
• Adjusting image levels

Adjusting lighting