How to fix dark or flat photos: brightness, contrast, colour and black and white
What each photo adjustment does, a sensible order to apply them in, and how the same controls make scanned documents and form photos easier to read.
Phone photos are often a little too dark, a little flat or slightly yellow under indoor lights. You do not need a photo editor to fix that. A few well-chosen adjustments transform a dull picture, and the same controls make a scanned document or an ID photo much easier to read. This guide explains each control and a sensible order for using them.
The controls and what they do
| Control | What it changes | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Brightness | Makes the whole picture lighter or darker | Rescue a dim indoor photo, or tone down a washed-out one |
| Contrast | Widens or narrows the gap between lights and darks | Add punch to a flat picture, or make scanned text stand out |
| Colour intensity | Makes colours stronger or weaker without changing brightness | Liven up a dull scene, or tame over-saturated skin tones |
| Warmth | Shifts the colour balance towards orange (warm) or blue (cool) | Correct yellow indoor light or bluish shade |
| Sharpen | Boosts the edges so detail looks crisper | Finish a picture that is slightly soft |
A good order to work in
- Start with the preset looks only if you want a style. Otherwise leave Original selected.
- Brightness first. Raise it in small steps until the main subject looks right. Do not worry about the background yet.
- Add contrast to bring back depth. If brightening made the picture look foggy, contrast fixes it.
- Fix the colour cast with warmth. If skin looks too orange, move left; if it looks blue or grey, move right.
- Adjust colour intensity last of the colour controls. A little goes a long way: +10 to +25 usually looks natural.
- Sharpen at the end, and only a little, for example 30 to 50.
The Hold to see the original button shows the untouched picture while you press it, which is the best way to judge whether you have gone too far. It is easy to over-edit, and what looks dramatic on screen for a minute often looks fake later.
Ready-made looks
- Black & white removes the colour and adds a touch of contrast. It rescues pictures with ugly colour casts and suits portraits.
- Sepia turns the picture warm brown, for an old-photograph feeling.
- Vivid boosts contrast and colour for landscapes and food.
- Fade lifts the blacks and softens colour for a matte, retro look.
- Warm and Cool shift the whole picture for mood.
- High contrast and Crisp make detail stand out, useful for pictures of text or objects.
You can start from a look and then fine-tune the sliders, and “Reset everything” brings it all back to zero.
Practical uses
Scanned documents and photos of paper
A photo of a page often looks grey and dull. Raise brightness a little and contrast a lot, and use black & white, and the text becomes much easier to read. Do this before you convert the picture to a PDF with Images to PDF. Then shrink the result using the compression guide if needed.
Photos for forms and profiles
Fix a dark face with brightness and a gentle warmth correction before cropping to the required size, as described in how to make passport size photos at home. Keep the edits subtle, because many forms and offices reject photos that look heavily altered.
Product and listing pictures
A small contrast and colour boost helps products stand out. Keep colours true to the real item to avoid returns and complaints.
Saving without losing quality
The edits are applied to the full-size photo, not just to the preview. Save as JPG at 92 percent for a file that looks identical to the original for normal use, or as PNG to avoid any loss. Pictures larger than 12,000 pixels on a side are scaled down. If you then need a particular size, use the image resizer. The photo is edited on your device and is never uploaded, as explained in Are online file converters safe?.