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What Does Shadows Highlights Do in Photoshop?

Last updated on September 24, 2022 @ 12:45 pm

Shadows-Highlights is an adjustment layer in Photoshop that is used to bring out the details in both the shadows and highlights of an image. This can be a useful tool when trying to improve the overall contrast of an image.

To access the Shadows-Highlights adjustment layer, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Shadows/Highlights. You will then see a dialog box with various options that can be adjusted.

The first option is ‘Shadows’, which allows you to lighten the shadows of an image. This can be useful if the shadows are too dark and are obscuring details.

The ‘Highlights’ option allows you to do the opposite – darken the highlights of an image. This can be useful if the highlights are too bright and are washing out details.

PRO TIP: Shadows/Highlights is a tool in Photoshop that can be used to lighten or darken areas of an image. However, if not used carefully, it can result in an image that looks unnatural and/or over-processed.

The next two options, ‘Midtones’ and ‘Lights’, work in a similar way to the previous two options but for different tonal ranges. The ‘Midtones’ option affects the midtones of an image (the tones that are neither highlights nor shadows), while the ‘Lights’ option affects the lightest tones in an image.

The final two options are ‘Amount’ and ‘Tonality’. The ‘Amount’ option controls how much of an effect is applied to the shadows, highlights, midtones or lights.

The ‘Tonality’ option controls how much of an effect is applied to the whole image.

Conclusion:
What Does Shadows Highlights Do in Photoshop?

Shadows-Highlights is an adjustment layer in Photoshop that can be used to bring out details in both the shadows and highlights of an image. This tool can be useful when trying to improve the overall contrast of an image.

Dale Leydon

Dale Leydon

Sysadmin turned Javascript developer. Owner of 20+ apps graveyard, and a couple of successful ones.