Basic Correction

Basic Correction is where most grades start: making the image look right before making it look like anything in particular.

White Balance

• Temperature makes the image cooler (bluer) or warmer (more orange). Use it when white or grey things in the picture have a colour cast.
• Tint moves between green and magenta. Fluorescent and LED light often leave a green cast; Tint removes it.

A quick check: find something that should be neutral, like a white wall or a grey pavement, and move both until it looks neutral.

Tone

• Exposure brightens or darkens the whole image evenly.
• Contrast pushes darks darker and brights brighter, or flattens them together.
• Whites sets how bright the brightest parts get.
• Blacks sets how dark the darkest parts get. Raising it gives a softer, matte look; lowering it adds depth.

Watch the histogram in the left sidebar as you go. If it piles up against the right edge, highlights are clipping to pure white; against the left, shadows are crushing to pure black.

Saturation

Saturation makes every colour more or less intense. For a gentler boost that leaves already-strong colours and skin mostly alone, use Vibrance in the Creative panel instead.

A good order

1. White balance.
2. Exposure.
3. Contrast, then whites and blacks.
4. Saturation last, because contrast changes how saturated an image looks.