User Guide

ACDSee Pro 2.5 - User Guide
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x Light EQ tab - works like a sound equalizer but with light. You can adjust the brightness
and contrast of different tone bands (areas of relative brightness or darkness) of the
image - independently - using a slider for each tone band. A graph shows the amount of
brightening or darkening applied throughout the tonal range. The gray areas in the graph
are suggested boundaries for adjustment to avoid clipping and loss of detail, and turn red
to indicate where you have adjusted the sliders far enough to cause clipping.
x Advanced tab - gives you ultimate control of the brightness and contrast in an image.
Basic adjustment curves can be constructed using four sliders, and you can manually
adjust the curves by clicking and dragging within the graph area or on the image itself.
To open the Shadows/Highlights tool:
Do one of the following:
x In the Browser, on the menu bar, click Tools | Open in Editor | Edit Mode.
x In the Browser, on the toolbar, click Edit Image | Edit Mode.
x In the Viewer, click Modify | Edit Mode.
x In Edit Mode, click Shadows/Highlights.
Using the Basics tab
To add light to dark areas:
1. Drag the Brighten slider to the right to add light to the dark parts of the photo.
2. Adjust the settings using any of the controls in the table below.
To darken areas that are too bright:
1. Drag the Darken slider to the right to darken and return detail to areas that are too
bright.
2. Adjust the settings using any of the controls in the table below.
Shadows/Highlights controls
Left-click or right-
click on the photo
Click an area to reset both the Brighten and Darken sliders
automatically to optimize the contrast and brightness of the area you
clicked. This works well if you want to brighten a particular area like a
face. Clicking a brighter area works best.
Exposure Warning
Click the Exposure Warning to make any over-, or under-exposed
areas visible. Over-exposed pixels turn red, under-exposed pixels turn
green. You can also toggle Exposure Warning on and off momentarily
by holding down the E key.
Automatic settings
Click to allow the software to analyze the photo and apply optimal
settings based on the amount of light and dark pixels in the photo.
Darker photos are brightened more than photos that are already
bright.
Reset Click to discard all changes and return to the original image.