Adjustments

The ADJUSTMENTS panel in the Editor’s right sidebar has fourteen sliders for exposure, color, tone and sharpness. They change whichever mask is selected, Global unless you pick another.

How adjustments work

Nothing is permanent. Move a slider back any time, with no loss of quality.
Each result keeps its own settings. Click another result in the history strip, and the sliders show its values.
Zoom to 100% when the exact result matters. To stay fast, the preview uses a smaller copy of your photo. It’s close, but only 100% shows the real pixels.
They carry into Lightroom. Save a DNG, and Lightroom, Camera Raw and Bridge open it with all fourteen Global sliders still adjustable. Two limits: a negative Sharpness arrives as 0, and a very cool Temperature stops at Lightroom’s coolest setting. Mask adjustments arrive as Lightroom masks.

Setting a value

Drag the slider, or type a number in the box beside it and press Return.
Point at a slider, or click in its box, and press Up or Down to step it: 0.1 EV on Exposure, 1 on the others. Hold Shift for ten steps.

Resetting

Double-click a slider or its name to reset it. Reset All, at the bottom, resets every slider.
Click the eye at the top of the panel, or press \, to hide your adjustments for a quick before/after.

The sliders

Every slider starts at 0.

Slider	Range	What it does
Exposure	`-4.0` to `+4.0` EV	Brightness in stops. Highlights roll off instead of clipping to flat white.
Temperature	`-100` to `+100`	Cooler (blue) or warmer (amber).
Tint	`-100` to `+100`	Green or magenta. Useful under fluorescent or LED light.
Contrast	`-100` to `+100`	Positive deepens shadows and brightens highlights. Negative flattens.
Highlights	`-100` to `+100`	Negative pulls back bright areas. Positive opens them up.
Shadows	`-100` to `+100`	Positive lifts shadow detail. Negative deepens it.
Whites	`-100` to `+100`	Where the brightest tones land. Positive makes more of the image white.
Blacks	`-100` to `+100`	Where the darkest tones land. Negative gives a deeper base.
Texture	`-100` to `+100`	Fine surface detail on insects, mushrooms and fabric.
Clarity	`-100` to `+100`	Local contrast over a wider area than Texture, for punch.
Vibrance	`-100` to `+100`	Boosts muted colors more than strong ones, and protects skin tones.
Saturation	`-100` to `+100`	Changes every color equally. Vibrance usually looks better.
Sharpness	`-100` to `+100`	Positive sharpens edges. Negative softens them, which can calm a busy background.
Denoise	`0` to `100`	Reduces grain and color speckle. It matches your picture’s own noise level.

Recipes

Bring out subject detail. On Subject, set Texture to about +30, Clarity to +15 and Sharpness to +20. Then on Background, set Clarity to -20 for smoother bokeh.

Fix a green cast from leaves. On Global, move Tint toward magenta (positive) until the green is gone. Cool Temperature a little if you need to.

Lift a dark stack. On Global, set Exposure to +0.5 to +1.0 and Shadows to +30 to +50. If the highlights get too bright, set Highlights to -10 to -20.

Reduce noise without losing detail. Set Denoise to 50-70 on Background and 0-20 on Subject. Add +10 to +15 Sharpness on Subject if it looks soft.

Spotlight the subject. Click Radial, drag the ellipse over your subject, and turn on Invert mask. Lower Exposure to about -0.5 and Saturation to -10. Raise Feather if the edge looks abrupt.

Tone down a bright top edge. Click Linear and drag from the top edge down. Lower Exposure to between -0.3 and -0.7, and Highlights to about -20.

Tips

Less is more. The stack is already clean and sharp. Adjustments are for taste and tone.
Pick the mask first. Many heavy edits are really a mask problem.