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Aperture Levels Adjustment Layer

by Jordan Nielsen

There are a lot of powerful image adjustment tools in Aperture, but one of the most over-looked is Levels. It's an extremely versatile control that can turn a flat image into a wonderfully contrasted image, and it can also be used with the monochrome tool to create punchy black and white images.

There are many different aspects to the levels adjustment. You can control the luminance levels in an image (blacks, whites, quarter tones, three-quarter tones, and midtones), as well as change the red, green and blue tones in the image with the black, white, quarter tone, three-quarter tone, and midtone sliders. If this sounds interesting to you, I'd like to take you on a brief tour.

Luminance Channel: Color Images

First, let's look at a color image and see how we can use the levels adjustment. When I work with this adjustment for an image, I often start in the luminance channel. Lots of people might use the contrast adjustment to create a stronger image, but contrast not only changes the punch of an image, it also changes color values. That is why using levels adjustment in the luminance channel is better, changing only the luminance levels of the image rather than the color values.

Luminance Channel: Monochrome Images

Just like with color images, the luminance channel can work wonderfully for monochrome images as well. Lots of people enjoy looking at high-contrasted black and white images, and using the luminance channel to produce this effect is a great option. (However, using it along with the red, green and blue channels is even better, as I'll describe in a minute.)

RGB Channel: Color Images

Yes, I know we now have the advanced Color brick in Aperture. But you might be interested to read that you can also use the red, green and blue channels in levels to desaturate or saturate. Just drag the black point slider to the right to desaturate the channel or the white point slider to the left to saturate the channel in the image. Interesting, huh?

RGB Channel: Monochrome Images

Using the RGB Channels along with the monochrome mixer can create much more dynamic black and white images in Aperture than just using the luminance channel. In the Monochrome Mixer, for example, you can adjust the mix using the red, green and blue sliders. You can make similar changes using those controls in Levels too. Play with the red, green and blue channels in the levels adjustment to see how you can further alter the look of your black and white images.

Even though this was just a quick overview of the Levels adjustment, it should get your creative juices flowing. If you have questions or comments, please post a comment at the end of this article.

And That's a Wrap (for now)

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