Adjust Image Brightness & Contrast

How to Adjust Image Brightness and Contrast

Image brightness and contrast are the two most fundamental adjustments in photo editing, controlling how light or dark an image appears and the range between its lightest and darkest areas.

Adjusting brightness and contrast is the first step in correcting virtually any photograph. Brightness controls the overall lightness or darkness of an image by shifting all pixel values up (brighter) or down (darker). Contrast controls the difference between the lightest and darkest areas — increasing contrast makes lights lighter and darks darker, while decreasing contrast pushes all tones toward the midpoint, creating a flatter, more muted look.

Together with saturation and exposure, these four adjustments give you comprehensive control over the tonal range and color intensity of any image. Saturation controls how vivid or muted colors appear, from completely desaturated (grayscale) to hyper-vivid. Exposure simulates the camera exposure adjustment, simultaneously affecting brightness and contrast to mimic the effect of changing the shutter speed or aperture on a camera.

Brightness

Brightness uniformly increases or decreases the lightness of every pixel in the image. Increasing brightness adds light to the entire image, making shadows less deep and highlights brighter. Decreasing brightness darkens the entire image. Brightness is best used for correcting images that are uniformly too dark (underexposed) or too bright (overexposed). Extreme brightness adjustments can wash out highlights or crush shadows, so moderate values typically produce the best results.

Contrast

Contrast adjusts the difference between the lightest and darkest tones in an image. Increasing contrast makes bright areas brighter and dark areas darker, creating a more dramatic, punchy look with greater tonal separation. Decreasing contrast brings the tonal values closer together, creating a softer, more muted appearance. High contrast works well for bold, graphic images, while lower contrast creates a vintage, film-like aesthetic.

Saturation

Saturation controls the intensity of colors in an image. At zero, the image displays in its original color intensity. Increasing saturation makes colors more vivid and vibrant — blues become deeper, reds become richer, greens become more lush. Decreasing saturation removes color intensity, eventually producing a completely grayscale image at the minimum value. Subtle saturation boosts (10-25) can make photos look more lively without appearing over-processed.

Exposure

Exposure simulates the effect of changing camera exposure settings. It combines brightness and contrast adjustments in a way that mimics the result of capturing more or less light. Increasing exposure brightens the image while slightly boosting contrast in the highlights, similar to a longer shutter speed. Decreasing exposure darkens the image while preserving shadow detail, similar to a shorter shutter speed. Exposure is particularly useful for correcting photos that were shot with incorrect camera settings.

Image Brightness & Contrast Use Cases

Image Adjustment Tool Features

Frequently Asked Questions