How to adjust the brightness of an image
- Drop in the photos you want to fix, or paste one from the clipboard.
- Move Brightness, Contrast and Saturation until it looks right. 0 leaves each one unchanged.
- Download the result, or every image in one zip.
Starting points for common fixes
Every photo is different, so treat these as places to start and adjust while watching the preview.
| Problem | Try |
|---|---|
| Dark phone photo taken indoors | Brightness +20 to +40, Contrast +10 |
| Faded or washed-out scan | Contrast +20 to +40, Brightness a little below 0 |
| Dull product photo | Saturation +10 to +25, Contrast +10 |
| Colours too loud in a screenshot or graphic | Saturation -20 to -40 |
| Muted, film-like look | Contrast -15, Saturation -20 |
Small changes go a long way. Values beyond about 50 in either direction are usually for effects rather than fixes.
Limits and good habits
Brightening a dark photo also brightens its noise, so a phone shot taken in very low light can look grainy afterwards. That noise was always there, just hidden in the dark.
Each time a JPG is saved it loses a little quality. If you plan to run the photo through other tools, such as sharpen or a black and white conversion, save as PNG in between and only choose JPG at the end. To get the final file small for email or the web, finish with compress image.