Levels

This effect manipulates the brightness and contrast of a clip. It combines the functions of the Color Balance, Gamma Correction, Brightness & Contrast, and Invert effects.

The Levels Settings dialog box displays a histogram of the current frame. The x-axis of the histogram represents brightness values from darkest (0) at the far left to brightest (255) at the far right; the y-axis represents the total number of pixels with that value.

To adjust levels:

1 From the menu at the top of the dialog box, choose whether you want tonal adjustments to apply to one of the three color channels that make up the clip (red, green, or blue), or choose RGB Channels to adjust all channels at once.

2 Use the slider controls directly below the histogram to increase contrast. Drag the black triangle to the right to increase the shadows. Drag the white triangle to the left to increase the highlights. Drag the gray triangle to control the midtones. You can also type the values directly into the Input Levels text boxes.

3 Use the Output Levels slider controls at the bottom of the dialog box to reduce contrast. Drag the black triangle to the right to eliminate the darkest values in the clip. Drag the white triangle to the left to eliminate the brightest values in the clip. You can also type the values directly into the Output Levels text boxes.

4 If desired, use the Load and Save buttons in the dialog box to save Level settings in a separate file, which you can then load for reuse in other instances of the effect.

Applying Effects > Video effects included with Premiere > Levels