How to Choose Black Point in Photoshop

Choosing and setting the black point of an image in Photoshop will determine the value of its darkest pixels. This, along with setting the white point, is an essential first step in any color-correction process, as it paves the way for fixing overall tonal problems and eliminates some of the need to work with individual colors. You often will hear the setting of black and white points referred to as "setting level defaults."

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop CS2 or later

Instructions

1. Open Photoshop and the photo or image you'd like to work with. You can find images stored on your computer by clicking on "File" in Photoshop's top navigation, then selecting "Open" and looking through folders.

2. Go to "Image," again in the top navigation.

3. Scroll down to "Adjustments."

4. Find "Levels," which is the first option on the menu.

5. Click this and a "Levels" window will pop up. Three eyedropper icons will be in the bottom-right corner of the window.

6. Double-click the leftmost eyedropper icon, which will open the "Color Picker" tool window.

7. Choose the new black point for your image by either clicking the cursor on a desired black point within the color chart or manually entering red, green and blue values, marked "R," "G" and "B" in the boxes on the right side of the window. The defaults will be set at "0," but entering a value of "10" for each of these is recommended if you don't have a specific effect you are trying to achieve in setting the black point.

8. Click "OK" in the upper-right corner of the window. This will return you to the "Levels" dialogue window.

9. Click "OK" in the upper-right corner of this window as well. Photoshop will ask you if you'd like to save the new target colors as defaults, to which you reply "Yes."

Tips & Warnings

• You should repeat each of these steps to set the white point, as choosing the black point without choosing the white point will not give you a truly even canvas for additional color correction. Note that the rightmost eyedropper in the "Levels" window represents the white point.

References

• "The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers"; Scott Kelby; 2005