Adjusting contrast

If video footage lacks contrast, it's easy to see in the Histogram panel. You'll have …gaps in the highs and lows, where the blacks and whites should be. …This particular shot definitely suffers from this, and you'll notice a large gap here in …the shadows and the highlights where the histogram doesn't even really start to rise until we …reach the midtones. …Making sure that shot is selected, I'm going to go ahead and toss on a Curves adjustment. …I can now use the On Image tool to pull down on a shadowy area, and as I start to pull down, …it's going to put that more towards black. That does a nice job of increasing the contrast …there, and you see the histogram has slid to the left.…

With the same On Image tool, I'll click on something that should be a highlight and begin …to lift a little, and you see, in doing so, the highlights are pushed back out to the right. …You could of course click on the curve itself to adjust it, and lower or raise the output …values. Toggling the visibility off and on, you see we definitely have expanded the dynamic …