Photo Enhancer

What each adjustment does

Brightness

Increases or decreases the overall lightness of the image. Increasing brightness can rescue underexposed photos, but going too far washes out highlights and reduces contrast.

Contrast

Pushes dark pixels darker and light pixels lighter, making the image pop. Moderate increases (+20 to +40) are usually flattering. Going too high crushes shadow detail and clips highlights.

Saturation

Increases or decreases color intensity. Slightly higher saturation (+10 to +30) makes photos feel vibrant. Lowering it toward -100 produces a black-and-white effect.

Warmth

Shifts colors toward yellow/orange (positive) or blue (negative). Warm images feel inviting and energetic; cool images feel calm and professional. Match the warmth to the mood you want.

Sharpness

Increases local contrast at edges, making the image look crisper. It cannot recover lost detail, but it can restore a slight softness in images that have been resized or compressed. Use sparingly — too much creates visible halos.

Tips for natural results

• Adjust in small steps. ±20 in most controls is usually plenty. If you need ±80 to see a change, something else might be wrong with the source image.
• Watch the histogram. If highlights turn pure white or shadows turn pure black, you've lost detail. Back off on brightness or contrast.
• Do saturation last. Increasing contrast also increases perceived saturation — adjust contrast first, then fine-tune saturation.
• Sharpness at the end. Sharpen only after you're happy with the other adjustments. Sharpening amplifies noise, so applying it last is safest.

Frequently asked questions