Tonal adjustments

Tonal adjustments

In Nebulb you have a series of development controls to adjust the intensity levels of the image.




Exposure

It allows the exposure of the image to be modified between +/- 5 stops, always trying to preserve the information of the lighter areas (so that they are not burnt when the exposure is increased).


Whites / Highlights

With these two sliders it is possible to adjust the areas of the image with high levels (right part of the histogram).

With the "Whites" control it is possible to recover/adjust the whitest areas of the image, which may even be "burnt". That is to say, by lowering the "Whites" slider, it is possible to recover information from the areas that are very overexposed (always within limits and much better in RAW images).

On the other hand, the "Highlights" slider allows you to adjust the level of the light areas of the image.

In short, the "Whites" slider allows you to move the right border of the histogram and the "Highlights" slider allows you to widen or compress the right part of the histogram.

Below is an example of how these two controls work:

Part of the image appears very overexposed (even "burnt") due to the street lighting

By lowering the "Whites" slider, much of the "burnt" information can be recovered

By adjusting the "Highlights" (after having "recovered" the burnt areas), it is possible to lower the level of the lighter areas so that they can be appreciated with more detail


Blacks / Shadows

Analogous to the previous settings are the "Blacks" and "Shadows" sliders for the dark areas of the picture.

The "Blacks" slider allows you to adjust the very dark areas of the image, while the "Shadows" slider affects the areas below the mid-tones.

In short, the "Blacks" slider allows you to move the left border of the histogram and the "Shadows" slider allows you to widen or compress the left part of the histogram.


Contrast

This slider can be used to change the contrast of the image (widen or compress the histogram).

It is possible to adjust the contrast at any time, although it is usually best to do this as the last step (after all previous adjustments have been made).





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