Darken a specific area of an image

The Darken tool is used to darken a specific area of an image. You could, for example, darken a light area of an otherwise well-exposed image to make it less emphasized.

1. Do one of the following:

   • In the Tools sidebar, click Darken or choose it from the grouped tools.

   • Choose Tools > Retouch > Darken from the Tools menu at the top of your screen.

2. In the Tool Options pane, customize the Darken tool:

   • Brush Size: Drag the Brush Size slider to adjust the size of the Darken tool brush. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key to extend the range of the Brush Size slider beyond 100%. You can also manually enter a value from 0% to 200%.


     💡Tip: You can use the [ and ] keys on your keyboard to change the size of the Darken tool brush.

   • Softness: Drag the Softness slider to adjust the softness of the edges of the Darken tool brush. With softer edges, the darkened areas will usually blend in better with the rest of the image.

   • Strength: Drag the Strength slider to adjust the intensity of the darkening effect.

3. Select a tonal range to darken:


   • All: When you brush over an area to darken it, the darkest, brightest, and midtone areas are darkened equally.


   • Shadows: When you brush over an area to darken it, only the shadows in that area are darkened.


   • Midtones: When you brush over an area to darken it, only the midtones in that area are darkened.


   • Highlights: When you brush over an area to darken it, only the highlights in that area are darkened.

4. Brush over the area of your image you’d like to darken.

Show before and after or reset effects

Show Original: Click the Show Original button to see what the image looked like before.

Show Split Comparison: Option ⌥ – click the Show Original button or press Control ⌃ + C on your keyboard.

Click Reset to discard all the current changes.