DOCS/Effects

Levels

Colour

Remap the tonal range — black point, white point, gamma.

Levels takes the range of brightness in the layer and remaps it. Pull the input black point up and everything below it goes pure black; pull the input white point down and everything above blows out. Gamma bends the middle without moving either end.

It is more surgical than Brightness/Contrast because you control the endpoints and the midpoint independently.

What it looks like

Before

Contrast

Crushed

Same artwork either side, so the difference you see is the effect. Built with the same SVG-filter primitives the product uses, but tuned for legibility at this size — treat it as a faithful illustration of the behaviour rather than a pixel-exact capture of the editor.

When to reach for it#

Restoring contrast to washed-out imagery.
Crushing blacks deliberately for a filmic look.
Fixing a layer that is nearly right but sits too bright or too flat.

Parameters#

Input blackinBlack#

Everything at or below this becomes pure black. Raising it deepens shadows and permanently discards detail below the cutoff.

Input whiteinWhite#

Everything at or above this becomes pure white. Lowering it brightens and clips highlights.

Gammagamma#

Bends the midtones. Above 1 brightens the middle without touching either endpoint, which is usually what you want when an image is "too dark" but the blacks are already correct.

Output black / whiteoutBlack#

Compresses the result into a narrower range. Raising output black lifts the blacks to grey, which is the classic faded-film look.

Things that catch people out#

Clipping is not recoverable

Once input black and white have crushed a range, a later effect cannot bring it back. Do heavy tonal moves early in the stack.

Levels

When to reach for it#

Parameters#

Things that catch people out#

See also#