Adjust brightness and contrast when a photo is too dark, flat, or washed out. The editor adds two extra controls: Gamma for midtones and Soft S-Curve for a smoother contrast shape.
A safe adjustment order
Start with Brightness to place the image in the right exposure range. Use Gamma when the middle tones still look too dark or too heavy. Add Contrast only after the lightness feels close. Finish with Soft S-Curve when raw contrast looks harsh.
This order helps avoid clipped whites, crushed blacks, and flat midtones.
Brightness and contrast
Brightness runs from 0% to 200%, with 100% as neutral. Values below 100% darken the image. Values above 100% brighten it.
Contrast also uses 100% as neutral. Higher values increase separation around the midpoint. Lower values reduce separation and can create a flatter, softer image.
If bright areas turn pure white, lower Brightness before lowering Contrast. If dark details disappear, lower Contrast or raise Gamma slightly.
Gamma for midtones
Gamma ranges from 0.20 to 3.00, with 1.00 as neutral. In this editor, higher Gamma lifts midtones more than shadows and highlights.
Use Gamma for faces, product details, interiors, and photos where more Brightness would blow out the highlights. Small values such as 1.05 to 1.25 are enough for many dark images.
Soft S-Curve
Soft S-Curve ranges from 0 to 100. It increases midtone contrast while easing the extremes, which can look less brittle than pushing Contrast alone.
Use a small curve after brightening a dark photo that now feels gray. Use a stronger curve for a high-contrast look, but watch shadow texture and bright skies.
Starting points
For a dark photo, try Brightness 115-145, Gamma 1.10-1.35, Contrast 95-120, and Soft S-Curve 10-35.
For a flat image, try Brightness 95-110, Gamma 0.95-1.15, Contrast 120-150, and Soft S-Curve 20-55.
For a faded matte look, try Brightness 105-125, Gamma 1.20-1.60, Contrast 65-95, and Soft S-Curve 0-25.
How the pixels change
The editor builds a lookup table for channel values from 0 to 255, then applies that table to the red, green, and blue channels while preserving alpha. Preview uses a capped size for responsiveness; download renders the full image dimensions.