Home (http://scottkelby.com/) Scott’s Gear (/gear/) About (/about/) Portfolio (https://scottkelby.slickpic.

site/)

Sports Portfolio (https://scottkelby.slickpic.site/sports) Contact (https://scottkelby.com/contact/)

(https://twitter.com/ScottKelb
' (https://www.facebook
( (https://instagram
) (https://ww
*

(https://scottkelby.com/)

! WHAT IS AUTO TONE? ABOUT ME

" David Williams (https://scottkelby.com/author/hybriddave/) # February 13, 2018 ♥2

% 2 Comments (https://scottkelby.com/what-is-auto-tone/#disqus_thread)

Hello there! It’s Tuesday, so I’m back to gatecrash the blog again! This week, it’s all about Auto Tone!

So, I’ve been asked this question twice, which therefore automatically merits a blog post about it. Trust

me, that’s how that works. ;)

(https://kelbyone.com)

& ‘What is Auto Tone?’ Scott is a photographer, award-winning

author and the original "Photoshop Guy" as

well as the CEO of KelbyOne, an online

Well! First of all, what does it do? Photoshop’s Auto Tone (along with Auto Contrast and Auto Color; all
educational community for Photographers,
found under the Image menu) can instantly fix colour and contrast problems in your images. The click
Photoshop and Lightroom users.
of a button sends the Photoshop algorithms into action, the whole image is assessed, and from that

assessment, Photoshop applies what it has determined is “right” for the image. What’s happening, in
reality, is that all that work you did with the Exposure, Contrast, Shadows, Highlights, Whites, and

Blacks sliders, along with the White Balance you decided upon, are all being looked at and adjusted

again right after you adjusted them. That image you worked hard on and made pinpoint adjustments
on is being changed and what you thought was best, Photoshop perhaps didn’t! It’s essentially a fight

between what is popular and what is right, so here’s what it’s actually doing: –

Auto Tone samples the entire image and assesses the colour values individually. It goes into the Red

layer, sets the darkest pixel as black, sets the lightest pixel as white, and redistributes all the other

values in between the two. It then does the same for the Green layer, then finally for the Blue layer.
Each colour has been dealt with alone, and the result is a combination of the three. Each now has its

contrast adjusted, essentially, and the result when you’ve changed each of these layers and combined

them can often be quite dramatic because we now have a totally different combination of colours.

For the sake of perspective, and for not leaving them out, here’s how Auto Contrast and Auto Color

work, too: –

Auto Contrast samples the three colour values combined rather than splitting them apart, still

adjusting the darkest pixel and lightest pixel, and still redistributing a bit in between. The result

should, hopefully, be that any colours that needed a little extra punch now have it.

Auto Color starts off the same as Auto Tone in that it splits up the colours and sets the darkest pixel to

black and the lightest pixel to white, but rather than redistributing that remainder, it makes an attempt

at getting the colours right rather than just spreading it all out. What it does, instead of redistributing

the colours, is it neutralises the midtones a little to correct any unwanted colour cast and emphasises

that boost in contrast.

So now that we know that, we can further understand why I said, “it’s a fight between what is popular

and what is right.” Take a look at what’s popular. It often has crushed tones, blacks that aren’t black, or
a range of contrast so slim that in terms of “picture perfection,” it won’t be winning any contests.

However, in terms of popularity, it’s scored #1. Here’s an example: –

This is a shot of mine taken practically from the hip. I was in Santa Monica with Peter Treadway

(http://hybridpeter.com) and Stephanie Richer (http://www.stephaniericherphoto.com), just as the sun

was dipping down, when I quickly snapped the palm trees (a rarity for me) in silhouette. The first shot

is how I set the sliders, setting the image for myself at what I deemed to be pleasing and the more

“popular” edit.

RECENT POSTS

+ Catch My Interview on “He Shoots / He

Draws” Podcast (and other Monday stuff)
(https://scottkelby.com/catch-my-interview-

on-he-shoots-he-draws-podcast-and-other-
This second one is what happened to the image when I hit Auto Tone (Mac: CMD+SHIFT+L; Windows:
monday-stuff/)
CTRL+SHIFT+L, if you’re interested).

+ The Grid: Your Dream Travel

Photography Places
(https://scottkelby.com/the-grid-your-dream-
travel-photography-places/)

+ Announcing My 13th Annual ‘Worldwide

Photo Walk’ For The Springs of Hope

Orphanage

(https://scottkelby.com/announcing-my-13th-
annual-worldwide-photo-walk-for-the-

springs-of-hope-orphanage/)

+ Guest Blog: Portrait Photographer Zaria

Love (https://scottkelby.com/guest-blog-
portrait-photographer-zaria-love/)

+ The Half Rule (https://scottkelby.com/the-

half-rule-2/)

Now, I like my edit, obviously. But, what has happened with Auto Tone isn’t wrong, it’s actually a far
SCOTT’S BOOKS
better representation of what should be going on there in terms of the colours and tones present at

that time on that day. Here are the two intermingled for a good comparison: –
 (https://www.amazon.com/Digital-

Photography-Book-
step-
step/dp/168198671X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_to

ie=UTF8)
(https://www.amazon.com/g

(https://www.amazon.com/Digital-
Photography-Book- (https://www.barnesandnob

step- photoshop-
step/dp/168198671X/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_to
elements-2020-
ie=UTF8) book-for-digital-

(https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-
photographers-
digital- scott-
So, the conclusion is this: I’ve explained Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, and Auto Color, so hopefully you
photography-book- kelby/1134089985;jsessionid
understand them if you didn’t before. It’s often seen as a bit of a cop-out button, purely because it has
scott- atgap08?
the word “Auto” in it, suggesting that the creative flow is taken away from the creative, but it’s actually
kelby/1137072896;jsessionid=DCC121FF24F959F1
ean=9780135301012)
a metric ton of useful because of this: –
atgap08?

Set everything up the way you want it, then hit Auto Tone, Auto Contrast, Auto Color, or all three, and ean=9781681986715) (https://www.peachpit.com/

check out the result. What you actually end up with should be a considered version taking all you’ve elements-2020-

seen into account, knowing what’s popular and what’s right! That’s my tip, you can have that for your (https://rockynook.com/shop/photography/the-
book-for-digital-

back pocket, and I hope you all have a great week! digital- photographers-
photography-book/) 9780135301012)
Much love

Dave

, Categories: Photoshop (https://scottkelby.com/category/photoshop/)

(http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?
( (https://twitter.com/share?
' (https://pinterest.com/pin/create/bookmarklet/?
- (http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?
. (http://digg.com/submit?
/ (mailto:?
0

(javascript_void(0);)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

(https://www.amazon.com/Landscape-

David Williams Photography-Book-

(https://scottkelby.com/author/hybriddave/) (https://scottkelby.com/author/hybriddave/) Scott- (https://www.amazon.com/g

Dave is a travel, lifestyle and commercial Kelby/dp/1681984326/ref=sr_1_1?

photographer, a tutorial and blog writer, crid=MTUO1270V1BK&keywords=scott+kelby+lan

(https://www.barnesandnob

and a social media influencer, based in 1) natural-light-

London, UK. (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-

portrait-book-scott-
landscape- kelby/1134878464;jsessionid
(http://capturewithdave.com)
1 (http://www.facebook.com/capturewithdave)
( (http://www.twitter.com/capturewithdave)
' (http://www.instagram.com/capturewithdave)
)
photography-book- atgap08?

scott- ean=9781681984247)
kelby/1131109665?

ean=9781681984322#/)
(https://rockynook.com/shop

RELATED POSTS and-

Web-based version of Photoshop coming!
(https://scottkelby.com/web-based-version-of-
photoshop-coming/)
(https://rockynook.com/shop/photography/the-
techniques/lighting/the-
Adobe Announces Photoshop Extended
landscape- natural-light-
Version (https://scottkelby.com/adobe-
announces-photoshop-extended-version/) photography-book/) portrait-book/)
 # March 2, 2007 # March 8, 2007

Our Photo Gallery From Adobe’s CS3 Launch Time to Vote For Your Top 10 “Most Wanted”
Event In New York City Photoshop Features (see yesterday’s post for
(https://scottkelby.com/our-photo-gallery- details) (https://scottkelby.com/lightroom-2- TOPICS BY TAG
from-adobes-cs3-launch-event-in-new-york- features-survey/)
city/) Select Category
# June 27, 2008
# March 28, 2007

SEPTEMBER 2020
PREVIOUS POST NEXT POST

DEADLINE TO ENTER ARCHITECTURAL ADOBE RELEASES A VERY ZIPPY NEW M

∠ PHOTO CONTEST IS THURSDAY

(https://scottkelby.com/deadline-enter-architectural-
UPDATE TO LIGHTROOM CLASSIC
∠
(https://scottkelby.com/adobe-releases-zippy-new-
(https://scottkelby.c
photo-contest-thursday/) update-lightroom-classic/)
7

(https://scottkelby.com/2020/09/07/)(https://scottkelby.c

14

(https://scottkelby.com/2020/09/14/)(https://scottkelby.c

21

28

« Aug (https://scottkelby.com/2020/08/)

SIGN UP

Join Our Newsletter

Email Address

Submit

+ Advertise with Us (https://scottkelby.com/advertise-company-kelbyone-network/)

+ Contact Us (https://scottkelby.com/contact/)

(https://twitter.com/ScottKelby)
' (https://www.facebook.com/SKelby)
( (https://plus.google.com/+ScottKelby/posts)
+ (https://instagram.com/scottkelby/)
) (https://www.youtube.com/kelbyone)
*

2018 Scott Kelby