Levels is one of the most valuable tools in Photoshop. You can use the Levels tool to make a less than average photo look like a professional photograph. If you’ve ever used Photoshop, you’ve probably discovered the Levels tool, and even played around with it a bit. But do you know why and how it works?

When you bring up the Levels tool in Photoshop, what you are seeing is called a histogram. A histogram is a graphical representation of how much information is in your photo. If you’re in RGB mode, the left side of the histogram shows you how much dark info your photo has. The right side shows you how much light info it has.



By looking at the graph above, you can see that the photo is missing both dark and light information. If we were to look at the photo that created these levels, it probably wouldn’t look that great. No worries, Photoshop can fix that.

Step 1: Start Photoshop and open an image to work with.

Step 2: From the menu at the top, select “Image>>Adjust>>Levels. You should now see the Levels dialog box.

Step 3: If the photo is lacking dark information, bring the “black point slider” towards the middle of the graph until it aligns with where the information begins. If it is too light, do the same thing with the “white point slider.”

Step 4: After the adjustments have been made, use the “middle point slider” to make any slight adjustments that are still needed.

Congratulation, not only do you now know how to use the Levels tool, you also know how it works and why it is important. Please visit my profile for more free Photoshop tutorials.

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