Online PSPhoto color basics: brightness, contrast, saturation and auto color
The quickest way: Auto Adjust Colors
Click "Image → Auto Adjust Colors" (shortcut F). It stretches the range from dark to light, so a dull photo instantly looks clearer. Not happy? Ctrl + Z undoes it.
Doing it by hand: Color Corrections
Open "Image → Color Corrections" and drag the sliders; the picture updates live:
- Brightness: lighter or darker overall;
- Contrast: lights get lighter and darks darker, giving more depth;
- Saturation: how vivid the colors are; all the way left is nearly black and white;
- Hue: shifts all colors, e.g. warmer or cooler;
- Red / green / blue channel: adjust one color on its own to fix a color cast.
Rule of thumb: move one thing a little at a time. Brightness and contrast within ±20 is usually enough; more starts to look fake.
Quick looks with filters
"Effects → Common Filters" also has single adjustments such as Brightness, Contrast, Saturate, Grayscale and Sepia. To see many effects at once, open "Effects → Effect browser": it shows the filters as thumbnails and applies one with a click.
Check the light balance
"Image → Histogram" shows how dark and light the photo is: a curve piled up on the left means too dark, on the right too bright, and empty ends mean too little contrast.