How do I use the Shadow and Highlight controls in Lumetri?

March 12, 2026 · caitlin

The Shadow and Highlight controls in Lumetri are powerful tools for adjusting the darkest and brightest areas of your video footage. They allow you to recover detail in underexposed shadows or tame blown-out highlights, bringing balance and a more polished look to your images. Mastering these adjustments is key to achieving professional-looking results in video editing.

Understanding Lumetri’s Shadow and Highlight Controls

The Lumetri Color panel in Adobe Premiere Pro (and After Effects) offers a dedicated section for these crucial adjustments. These controls work by selectively altering the luminance values within specific tonal ranges of your video. Think of them as intelligent brightness and contrast tools that focus on the extremes.

What are Shadows and Highlights in Video?

In video, shadows refer to the darkest areas of the image where detail might be lost due to insufficient light. Highlights are the brightest areas, which can sometimes appear "blown out" or washed out, losing texture and information. Properly adjusting these can dramatically improve the overall look and feel of your footage.

How Do They Work in Lumetri?

Lumetri’s Shadow and Highlight tools allow you to increase or decrease the brightness within these specific tonal ranges.

Shadows: Increasing the shadow value brightens the dark areas. Decreasing it makes them darker.
Highlights: Increasing the highlight value brightens the bright areas. Decreasing it makes them darker.

This selective adjustment is what makes them so valuable, as they don’t affect the mid-tones as drastically as a simple brightness slider.

Mastering the Shadow and Highlight Sliders

When you open the Lumetri Color panel, you’ll find these controls within the "Basic Correction" tab. They appear as simple sliders, but their impact can be profound when used correctly.

Adjusting Shadows for Detail Recovery

When your footage looks too dark, or you’ve lost detail in the darker parts of the frame, the Shadow slider is your best friend.

Increase Shadows: Gently slide this to the right to lift the shadows. Watch carefully for noise or a washed-out look.
Decrease Shadows: Less common, but you might use this to add depth or mood by making already dark areas even darker.

Pro Tip: Aim for subtle adjustments. Pushing the shadow slider too far can introduce unwanted noise and an unnatural, "foggy" appearance.

Taming Blown-Out Highlights

Conversely, if the bright areas of your video are too intense and lack detail, the Highlight slider is what you need.

Decrease Highlights: Slide this to the left to bring down the brightest areas. This can help recover detail in skies, bright lights, or reflective surfaces.
Increase Highlights: This is rarely needed, but could be used for creative effect to make bright areas even more pronounced.

Key Takeaway: Recovering detail in highlights is often more challenging than in shadows. It’s always better to expose correctly in-camera to minimize the need for extreme highlight recovery.

Beyond the Basics: Advanced Shadow and Highlight Settings

Lumetri offers a few additional controls that give you finer-grained control over how the shadow and highlight adjustments are applied. These are often hidden under a small arrow next to the sliders.

Color and Tone Adjustments

Within the advanced options, you’ll find sliders for Color and Tone.

Color: This slider affects the color cast within the shadows or highlights. For instance, you might desaturate blown-out highlights or add a cooler tone to shadows.
Tone: This slider influences the contrast within the adjusted areas. It can help refine the transition between the adjusted shadows/highlights and the mid-tones.

Using the Clipping Indicators

Lumetri provides clipping indicators (often small triangles at the top of the histogram) that show you where you’re losing detail in pure black (shadow clipping) or pure white (highlight clipping).

Shadow Clipping: If the blue triangle lights up, you’re losing detail in the blacks.
Highlight Clipping: If the red triangle lights up, you’re losing detail in the whites.

Always try to avoid clipping when recovering detail.

Practical Examples and Use Cases

Imagine shooting a scene with a bright window in the background. The people in the foreground might be too dark. Using the Shadow slider can bring up their faces without making the window excessively bright.

Alternatively, if you’re shooting outdoors on a sunny day, the sky might be completely white. Using the Highlight slider can bring back the blue of the sky and the detail in the clouds.

When to Use Lumetri’s Shadows/Highlights vs. Curves

While Lumetri’s Shadow and Highlight sliders are excellent for quick adjustments, the Curves tool offers more precise control.

Feature	Lumetri Shadows/Highlights	Curves Tool
Ease of Use	High	Medium to High
Precision	Medium	High
Control Range	Specific tonal ranges	Entire tonal range, custom points
Best For	Quick fixes, overall balance	Fine-tuning, creative grading, specific looks

For instance, if you need to bring down a very specific bright spot without affecting the rest of the highlights, the Curves tool would be more effective. However, for a general lift of dark areas or a subtle reduction of bright skies, Lumetri’s dedicated sliders are often faster and more intuitive.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overusing these tools is the most common pitfall. Pushing the sliders too far leads to unnatural-looking footage.

Noise: Excessive shadow lifting can reveal and amplify digital noise.
Washed-Out Look: Pushing shadows too much can make the image appear flat and hazy.
Artifacts: Extreme highlight recovery can sometimes introduce banding or strange color shifts.

Always compare your adjustments against the original footage to ensure you’re improving, not degrading, the image quality.