Luminance masks: target highlights, midtones, or shadows

Colors with the same hue and chroma share a position on the wheel, even when their lightness differs. A pin's Lightness range lets you select only the highlights, midtones, or shadows within its color range.

Set a pin's lightness range

1. Place a pin. On the Color tab, click a color in the photo or on the wheel.

2. Open the pin menu. Right-click the pin to open its Lightness range menu. The small distribution graphs show where the selected color falls across the tonal range.

3. Choose a range. Hover over Full range, Highlights, Midtones, or Shadows to preview the selection. Click to apply it.

4. Check the selection. With the pin selected, hold H to see the affected areas highlighted against a dimmed grayscale photo.

Hovering over a range previews it in the photo, the color cloud, and the Lightness strip below the wheel.

To set the range from the photo instead, click in the pin toolbar, or choose Custom… in the pin menu, then drag a box over the area. Only its lightness is sampled; the pin's colors stay the same.

Choose a working range before placing pins

The Working range buttons above the wheel let you choose a tonal range before creating a pin.

Select Highlights, for example, to show only highlight colors on the wheel. New pins inherit that lightness range. Switch to Shadows to create pins for darker colors.

The Working range is a temporary viewing and selection setting. It resets to Full range when you open another photo. Each pin keeps its assigned lightness range as part of your edit.

Sample a custom working range

After the preset ranges, Custom lets you sample a lightness range from the photo.

Click the pipette, then drag a box over the area you want to sample. Its lightness range becomes the Custom working range, which applies to new pins.

The working-range sample clears when you open another photo.

Adjust one color in two tonal ranges

To adjust bright and dark versions of the same color:

1. Set a pin's lightness range to Highlights.

2. Click Duplicate pin in the pin toolbar.

3. Set the duplicate's lightness range to Shadows.

4. Adjust each pin independently.

For a more specific selection, hold Ctrl and drag a box over an area in the photo. Tone Caliper creates a pin based on its color, color range, and lightness. The pin menu identifies the lightness range as custom.

Sampling an area does not create a spatial mask. Matching colors and lightness elsewhere in the photo may also be affected.

Protect a color

To protect selected colors from other pin adjustments, select a pin and click Protect colors in the pin toolbar.

Protection follows the pin's selection, including its lightness range. You can use it for skin tones, product colors, or any other colors you want to preserve.