Color

The Color section controls white balance, how colorful the image is, and the color look. It has six tools: White Balance, Presence, Hue, Color Grading, Color Mixer and Color Calibration (hidden by default).

White Balance

Slider	Range	What it does
Temperature	−100 to +100	Negative makes the image cooler (bluer), positive warmer (more orange).
Tint	−100 to +100	Negative adds green, positive adds magenta.

The slider tracks are colored so you can see which way is which. Both sliders are relative to the white balance the camera recorded, so 0 is always "as shot".

Kelvin mode

Click the K button in the White Balance header to show temperature in Kelvin instead. Temperature then goes from 2,000 K to 50,000 K and Tint from −150 to +150. The sliders start at the white balance your camera recorded. Double-click a slider to go back to the camera value.

Use Kelvin mode when you know the light: about 3,200 K for tungsten bulbs, 5,500 K for daylight, 6,500 K for overcast or shade. Kelvin mode is an app-wide setting.

White balance picker

Click the pipette in the White Balance header, then click something in the photo that should be neutral grey or white, such as a grey card, a white wall or a cloud. Click samples a small spot, drag samples the average of a box, which is more reliable on noisy images.

Good neutral targets: road surfaces, concrete, white shirts in shade, a grey camera bag. Avoid pure white highlights, they may be clipped.

New to this? What's white balance?

Sunlight at noon, candle light, fluorescent tubes and shade all have a different color. Your eyes adjust automatically, cameras don't always. White balance corrects this. Temperature goes from blue to orange, Tint from green to magenta. The fastest way is the picker: click on something that should be neutral.

Presence

Slider	Range	What it does
Vibrance	−100 to +100	Boosts muted colors more than colors that are already strong, and goes easy on skin tones. Negative values tone down the strongest colors first.
Saturation	−100 to +100	Changes all colors equally. −100 gives a black-and-white image. +100 doubles the color.

Use Vibrance when you want "more color" without orange skin. Use Saturation for an even change, or to go to black and white.

Hue

Slider	Range	What it does
Hue	−180° to +180°	Rotates all colors around the color wheel. Small values (±5°) can fix a slight color cast; large values are a creative effect.

Inside masks, this tool is called Local Hue.

Color Grading

Color wheels like in video grading software. Use them to give shadows, midtones and highlights a different tint.

There are two tabs (icons at the top):

3-Way (default): wheels for Shadows (bottom left), Midtones (top) and Highlights (bottom right).
Global: one wheel for the whole image.

How to use a wheel:

Drag inside the wheel. The angle is the hue, the distance from the center is the strength.
Hold Ctrl while dragging to change only the hue, hold Shift to change only the strength.
The slider under each wheel (sun icon) brightens or darkens that zone, −100 to +100.
Double-click a wheel to reset it.
Click Toggle Sliders to show exact Hue (0 to 360) and Saturation (0 to 100) sliders under each wheel. Useful for copying values from a tutorial.

Two more sliders affect the 3-Way grade:

Slider	Range	What it does
Blending	0 to 100 (default 50)	How softly the three zones blend. Low values give clearly separated zones.
Balance	−100 to +100	Moves the zone borders. Negative lets the shadow color reach further up into the midtones, positive lets the highlight color reach further down.

Example, "teal and orange": Shadows hue 200, saturation 30. Highlights hue 35, saturation 25. Blending 60. Midtones left alone. See Color Grade with Wheels for more.

Color Mixer

Change one color range without touching the others. Click a swatch to choose a range, then use the three sliders.

Swatch	Centered around
Reds	358°
Oranges	25° (skin)
Yellows	60°
Greens	115°
Aquas	180°
Blues	225° (sky)
Purples	280°
Magentas	330°

Slider	Range	What it does
Hue	−100 to +100	Shifts this color toward its neighbors (up to 60°). Example: pull Greens toward yellow for autumn foliage.
Saturation	−100 to +100	More or less color in this range only. −100 removes it completely.
Luminance	−100 to +100	Brighter or darker for this range only. Grey areas are protected, so it doesn't create noise in neutral tones.

Common recipes:

Goal	Settings
Deep blue sky	Blues: Luminance −30, Saturation +15
Glowing skin	Oranges: Luminance +10, Saturation −5
Calmer greens in landscapes	Greens: Saturation −25, Hue −10 (toward yellow)
Black and white with dark sky	Saturation −100 in Presence, then Blues: Luminance −40

New to this? What's HSL?

HSL stands for Hue (which color), Saturation (how strong) and Luminance (how bright). The Color Mixer lets you change one of these for a single color range, for example making only the blue sky darker.

Color Calibration

Hidden by default. Show it by right-clicking a section header, choosing Customize Panels and clicking the eye next to Color Calibration.

It works like a camera profile adjustment: it changes how the red, green and blue primaries are mixed, which shifts all colors in a smooth, natural-looking way.

Group	Slider	Range	What it does
Shadows	Tint	−100 to +100	Adds magenta (positive) or green (negative) to the dark tones only. Fixes the green shadows some cameras produce.
Primaries	Hue	−100 to +100	For the selected primary (Red, Green or Blue): shifts it toward its neighbors.
Primaries	Saturation	−100 to +100	Makes everything that contains this primary more or less colorful.

A popular trick: Blue primary Saturation +30 and Hue −15 gives richer, slightly teal skies and warmer skin at the same time. Red primary Hue +10 makes skin a bit more yellow.

In masks

Tool	In masks
White Balance (Temperature, Tint)	Yes, relative mode only, no picker
Presence	Yes
Hue	Yes, as Local Hue
Color Grading	Yes
Color Mixer	Yes
Color Calibration	No