Adjustments
The ADJUSTMENTS panel in the right sidebar of Develop view holds twelve sliders that tune exposure, color, tone, and sharpness. They apply to whichever mask is currently selected — Global by default.
How adjustments work
Section titled “How adjustments work”- Non-destructive. Every slider you move is a parameter, not a baked-in pixel change. You can dial it back at any time with no quality loss.
- Masked. The current mask determines which pixels are affected. Move the Exposure slider with Subject selected, and only the subject brightens — the background stays untouched.
- Live preview. Changes apply in real time so dragging a slider feels smooth even on big images.
- Per-history-entry. Adjustments are stored per result in the history strip, so you can move between results and the sliders update to show that result’s settings.
Resetting
Section titled “Resetting”- Double-click any slider to reset just that one to default.
- Reset All at the bottom of the panel resets every slider in one click.
- The eyeball toggle at the top of the panel hides the adjustment effect without changing the slider values — useful for a quick before/after. Click it again to bring the effect back.
The sliders
Section titled “The sliders”The panel is grouped by purpose, top to bottom:
Exposure and tone
Section titled “Exposure and tone”| Slider | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exposure | -3.0 to +3.0 | 0 | Linear brightness multiplier in stops. Good for matching exposure across multiple stacks. |
| Contrast | -100 to +100 | 0 | Tonal separation around mid-grey. Positive deepens shadows and brightens highlights; negative flattens. |
| Highlights | -100 to +100 | 0 | Recovery in the upper tonal range. Negative pulls back blown highlights; positive opens them up. |
| Shadows | -100 to +100 | 0 | Lift or crush the bottom tonal range. Positive lifts shadow detail; negative deepens. |
| Slider | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temperature | -50 to +50 | 0 | Warm/cool shift. Negative = cooler (blue); positive = warmer (amber). |
| Tint | -50 to +50 | 0 | Green/magenta shift. Useful for correcting fluorescent or LED lighting. |
| Vibrance | -100 to +100 | 0 | Smart saturation that protects already-saturated colors and skin tones. |
| Saturation | -100 to +100 | 0 | Flat saturation. Use sparingly — Vibrance usually produces nicer results. |
Detail
Section titled “Detail”| Slider | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texture | -100 to +100 | 0 | Mid-frequency contrast. Brings out fine surface texture on insects, mushrooms, fabric. |
| Clarity | -100 to +100 | 0 | Low-frequency contrast / local contrast. Adds punch without affecting overall exposure. |
| Sharpness | 0 to 100 | 0 | Edge sharpening. Apply lightly — the stacker already maximizes per-region sharpness; this is for additional pop. |
| Denoise | 0 to 100 | 0 | Luminance noise reduction. Especially useful on high-ISO macro shots. |
Practical patterns
Section titled “Practical patterns”Bringing out subject detail without flattening the background
Section titled “Bringing out subject detail without flattening the background”- Click Subject in the MASKS panel.
- Toggle the eyeball icon to confirm what the mask covers (magenta overlay).
- On the Subject mask, push Texture to about
+30, Clarity to+15, and Sharpness to+20. - Click Background and push Clarity down to
-20for a smoother bokeh feel.
Color-correcting a green cast from leaf reflection
Section titled “Color-correcting a green cast from leaf reflection”Subjects shot near foliage often pick up a green cast from light bouncing off leaves.
- Click Global (or Subject if it’s only on the subject).
- Push Tint toward magenta (positive values) until the green tone neutralizes.
- Optionally cool Temperature slightly to compensate for any overall warmth you introduced.
Lifting underexposed shadows
Section titled “Lifting underexposed shadows”For a stack that came out a bit dark:
- Global mask, Exposure to about
+0.5to+1.0stops. - Shadows to
+30to+50to recover detail. - Highlights to
-10to-20if your highlights got too hot from the exposure lift.
Killing noise without smearing detail
Section titled “Killing noise without smearing detail”- Background mask, Denoise to
+50to+70(noise is more visible in smooth areas). - Subject mask, Denoise to
0to+20(preserve detail; let the mask handle the rest). - Sharpness on the Subject mask to
+10to+15to compensate for any minor softness.
- Less is more. The stacker already produces a clean, sharp result. Adjustments are for taste and tone, not heavy-handed correction.
- Watch the eyeball toggle. Quick before/after at any point — toggle the panel-level eyeball, see if you’re actually improving the image.
- Mask before adjusting. Most heavy-handed edits are actually a mask problem in disguise. Pick the right mask first, then tune.
- Subject and Background sum to 100% — when you push Subject Exposure up and Background Exposure down, you’re effectively increasing subject/background separation without compositing.