Adjustments

The ADJUSTMENTS panel in the right sidebar of the Editor holds twelve sliders that tune exposure, color, tone, and sharpness. They apply to whichever mask is currently selected — Global by default.

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

• 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

The panel is grouped by purpose, top to bottom:

Exposure and tone

Slider	What it does
Exposure	Linear brightness multiplier in stops. Good for matching exposure across multiple stacks.
Contrast	Tonal separation around mid-grey. Positive deepens shadows and brightens highlights; negative flattens.
Highlights	Recovery in the upper tonal range. Negative pulls back blown highlights; positive opens them up.
Shadows	Lift or crush the bottom tonal range. Positive lifts shadow detail; negative deepens.

Color

Slider	What it does
Temperature	Warm/cool shift. Negative = cooler (blue); positive = warmer (amber).
Tint	Green/magenta shift. Useful for correcting fluorescent or LED lighting.
Vibrance	Smart saturation that protects already-saturated colors and skin tones.
Saturation	Flat saturation. Use sparingly — Vibrance usually produces nicer results.

Detail

Slider	What it does
Texture	Mid-frequency contrast. Brings out fine surface texture on insects, mushrooms, fabric.
Clarity	Low-frequency contrast / local contrast. Adds punch without affecting overall exposure.
Sharpness	Edge sharpening. Apply lightly — the stacker already maximizes per-region sharpness; this is for additional pop.
Denoise	Luminance noise reduction. Especially useful on high-ISO macro shots.

Practical patterns

Bringing out subject detail without flattening the background

1. Click Subject in the MASKS panel.
2. Toggle the eyeball icon to confirm what the mask covers (magenta overlay).
3. On the Subject mask, push Texture to about +30, Clarity to +15, and Sharpness to +20.
4. Click Background and push Clarity down to -20 for a smoother bokeh feel.

Color-correcting a green cast from leaf reflection

Subjects shot near foliage often pick up a green cast from light bouncing off leaves.

1. Click Global (or Subject if it’s only on the subject).
2. Push Tint toward magenta (positive values) until the green tone neutralizes.
3. Optionally cool Temperature slightly to compensate for any overall warmth you introduced.

Lifting underexposed shadows

For a stack that came out a bit dark:

1. Global mask, Exposure to about +0.5 to +1.0 stops.
2. Shadows to +30 to +50 to recover detail.
3. Highlights to -10 to -20 if your highlights got too hot from the exposure lift.

Killing noise without smearing detail

1. Background mask, Denoise to +50 to +70 (noise is more visible in smooth areas).
2. Subject mask, Denoise to 0 to +20 (preserve detail; let the mask handle the rest).
3. Sharpness on the Subject mask to +10 to +15 to compensate for any minor softness.

Spotlighting the subject with a Radial mask

Draw the eye to the subject by quietly darkening everything around it:

1. Click Radial in the MASKS panel and drag the ellipse over your subject on the canvas.
2. Turn on Invert in the toolbar so the adjustment lands outside the ellipse.
3. Pull Exposure down to about -0.5 and Saturation down -10 to settle the surroundings.
4. Nudge Feather up if the falloff looks abrupt — a wide feather keeps the vignette invisible.

Graduating a bright sky or backdrop with a Linear mask

When the top of the frame blows out brighter than the rest:

1. Click Linear in the MASKS panel and drag from the top edge downward, so the ramp covers the bright band.
2. Pull Exposure down -0.3 to -0.7 and bring Highlights down -20 or so.
3. Drag the endpoints farther apart for a gentler blend, closer together for a more defined transition.

Tips

• 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.

See also

• Masks — choose what your adjustments affect.
• Saving — adjustments are baked into the saved file (TIFF, JPEG, or DNG).