Lift / gamma / gain

Lift, gamma and gain are the three primary tonal controls. Lift pulls on the shadows (the dark end), gamma on the mid-tones (the middle, where faces live), and gain on the highlights (the bright end). Each wheel’s ring tints that zone’s color and its slider moves that zone’s brightness. Splitting work across them is how you shape a tonal range instead of just brightening or darkening everything.

First used in: 1.3 · Primaries

Used in: The workhorse controls for 1.6 · Balancing a shot.