Improving Your Image

This page helps you pick the right Editor tool for what you see. If you already know the tool, go to its page from the Editor overview.

Most stacks need very little. Stacking already aligns your frames, picks the sharpest detail and removes most color fringing. A clean stack often needs only a crop and a save.

A good default order

Crop: set your framing first.
Look: choose Natural or Enhanced. Everything else builds on it.
Retouch: bring back fine detail from a sharp source photo.
Defringe: remove leftover color fringes (rarely needed).
Spot Correct: remove dust spots.
Masks + Adjustments: set exposure, color and contrast.
Save.

The order isn’t a rule. If you change the Look later, Macro Studio redoes your Retouch, Spot Correct and Defringe strokes on the new Look. If the Look slider is locked, it tells you why. See When the slider is unavailable.

Retouch, Spot Correct, Defringe, Masks, Adjustments and History are in Advanced mode. If you don’t see them, see Standard and Advanced modes.

Find your problem

”The image is too bright”

Macro Studio opens your photos at the brightness of your camera’s own JPEG. Sometimes that looks too bright, most often with a bright subject on a dark background.

→ Turn off Match camera brightness in Preferences. Images you open or stack after that start flatter and darker, so reopen the image to see the change. To fix just one image, lower Exposure in Adjustments.

”The framing isn’t right”

→ Crop. Straighten, trim uneven edges, and pick an aspect ratio. For social media, 4:5 suits most images, or 1:1 if 4:5 doesn’t fit yours.

”An insect moved, and now there are extra antennae”

→ Retouch. Paint the antenna in from the one frame where it’s sharpest. Cover the ghost copies with clean background from another frame.

”There are red, green, or blue dots or lines in the image”

That’s color fringing on out-of-focus highlights.

→ Defringe. Brush over it to remove the false color. If a faint gray speck is left, use Spot Correct.

”There are dust spots, sensor specks, or stray debris”

→ Spot Correct. Click a spot, and it’s filled from clean pixels nearby.

”The whole image is too dark, too bright, flat, or off-color”

→ Adjustments on the Global mask: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Temperature and Tint.

”I want to treat the subject and background differently”

→ Pick the Subject or Background mask, then adjust. Only that area changes.

”The background is noisy or grainy”

→ Denoise on the Background mask. Keep it low on the Subject mask, so you don’t soften detail.

”The subject looks a little flat or soft”

→ Texture, Clarity and Sharpness on the Subject mask.

”What is this species?”

→ Species Identification. Names your subject and can draft a social caption.

Which slider to use

Exposure: the whole image is too dark or too bright.
Contrast: it looks flat (raise) or harsh (lower).
Highlights: bright areas look washed out (lower) or too gray (raise).
Shadows: dark areas need more detail (raise) or more depth (lower).
Whites: where the brightest tones land. Blacks: where the darkest tones land. Unlike Shadows, Blacks leaves the midtones alone.
Temperature: too blue or too warm. Tint: a green or magenta cast, like light bouncing off leaves.
Vibrance: dull colors. Try it before Saturation, which changes every color equally.
Texture: fine surface detail, like insect hairs. Clarity: depth and punch.
Sharpness: a little extra edge bite. Use it lightly.
Denoise: grain, especially in smooth backgrounds.

Less is more. The stack is already clean and sharp. Click the eye at the top of the ADJUSTMENTS panel for a quick before/after.