The HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) group provides controls that allow you to alter attributes such as hue, saturation, gain, and gamma. These controls resemble those found in the Video Input tool and in the Color Effect, and, therefore, HSL is the group in the Color Correction tool that will be most familiar to experienced Avid editors.

The HSL group also allows you to specify an offset for the hue of an image, a control that is especially useful for correcting a color cast. For example, when an object in an image that should be a neutral gray appears tinged with a color, you can use the offset adjustment to restore the correct gray color. You can make Hue Offset adjustments in three different luminance ranges — highlights, midtones, and shadows — allowing you more precise control over color cast corrections.

You can invert both the chrominance and luminance values in an image with a single click. You can also set clipping values for both the High and Low ends of the luminance range.

The HSL controls are capable of correcting a wide range of problems. If you are comfortable working with the HSL group and gain some experience using it, you might be able to make most of your common corrections without needing to use the Curves group. For some kinds of adjustments, however, you might find the curve graph controls in the Curves group more suitable. In particular, remember that the Auto Contrast and Auto Balance automatic corrections buttons in the Curves group might