User Guide

Chapter 5: Editing
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3. Drag the Contrast slider to the left to decrease contrast or to the right to increase
contrast.
4. Drag the Fill Light slider to the right to add light to the darkest areas of the image.
5. Click Exposure Warning to make over- or under-exposed pixels visible. Over-exposed
pixels turn red, under-exposed pixels turn green.
6. Do one of the following:
x Click Apply to apply your changes and set options on another tab.
x Click Done to apply your changes and close the Exposure tool.
x Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.
You can make fine adjustments to any of the sliders in Edit Mode by placing the
cursor over the slider and moving the mouse wheel one click forward or back.
A brief technical explanation of eV
eV stands for exposure value. When you capture an image, the exposure is determined by two
things - the f-stop, or aperture, and the shutter speed. Typically, the camera automatically
determines the optimal exposure based on a built-in light meter and then sets the f-stop and
shutter speed accordingly. However, the light meter can be fooled by a bright sky or dark
surroundings, leading it to choose an incorrect f-stop and shutter speed. This results in an
under- or over-exposed image. With the exposure slider of the Brightness tool you can
compensate for exposure problems caused by incorrect settings when the image was captured.
For example, imagine that you capture an image at F4 with a shutter speed of 1/125 seconds.
If you drag the Exposure slider to the left by -1eV you effectively reduce the amount of light in
the image by increasing the f-stop to F5.6 and the shutter speed to 1/250 seconds. If you drag
the Exposure slider to the right by +1eV you effectively increase the amount of light in the
image by reducing the f-stop to F2.8 and the shutter speed to 1/60.
Adjusting shadows and highlights
You can use the Shadows/Highlights tool to adjust areas in an image that are too dark or too
light, without affecting other areas of the photo. You can also simultaneously lighten dark areas
that are too dark, and darken areas that are too bright. Examples would be a photo of a person
silhouetted against a bright background like the sea, or a window. In fact, most photos taken
on a dull day, or with a flash, can be improved in various ways with fine adjustments using the
Shadows/Highlights tool.
You can save your settings as a preset to use again.
The Shadows/Highlights tool is very versatile. There are 3 tabs, each of which allow you to
achieve good results in different ways. In addition, there are several keyboard and mouse
shortcuts that allow you to make adjustments on specific areas of the photo itself.
x Basics tab - is for very quick and easy adjustments using just two sliders. ACDSee
analyses the photo and varies the adjustment throughout the image automatically. For
example, darker images are brightened more. By clicking on the Use Automatic
Settings button, you can have ACDSee fully analyze the photo and set the slider positions
automatically. You can also click directly on an area of the image to generate automatic
settings optimal for that area (usually the subject of the photo).