The black point is the tone in a photo that is set to pure black. In an 8-bit image that is a value of 0 (RGB 0, 0, 0), on a scale where 255 is pure white. Raising the black point level (for example from 0 to 15) makes more of the darkest tones pure black, which adds contrast and depth. Lifting the darkest tone above 0 does the opposite and gives a soft, faded, matte look.
Setting the black point is one of the first steps in any tonal edit, together with its partner, the white point. The two anchors fix the ends of the tonal range, and everything else in the image sits between them. This page explains what the black point does, how to set it with the Blacks slider, Levels and Curves, how to judge it with the histogram, and where the term turns up in printing and screen calibration.
What setting the black point does
Every photo has a darkest tone. In a flat, hazy or underexposed image that darkest tone is often a dark gray, perhaps a value of 20 or 30, so nothing in the picture is truly black and the image looks washed out. Setting the black point tells the editor “treat this value as black”. Every tone at or below it becomes 0, and the tones above it are stretched to fill the space. The picture gains contrast and the colors look richer, because the shadows now reach all the way down.
There are two directions you can move it:
- Darken the black point (clip more tones to black). Deeper shadows, more contrast and more punch. Go too far and dark detail, such as texture in black clothing or leaves in a shaded forest, merges into a flat black area. That loss is called crushed or clipped blacks.
- Lift the black point (make the darkest tone gray). The darkest part of the image becomes a dark gray instead of black. Contrast drops and the image takes on a soft, faded look, often described as matte or film-like. Lifting the black output value is the standard way to make that look.
Black point vs. the Blacks and Shadows sliders
Raw editors usually give you two sliders for the dark end of the image, and they do different jobs:
- Blacks moves the black point itself. It affects the very darkest tones and decides whether anything in the image reaches pure black.
- Shadows brightens or darkens the darker midtones (dark skin tones, shaded walls, the shadow side of a face) without moving the end point much.
A common sequence is to lift Shadows to open up detail in the dark areas, then pull Blacks down so the image still has a true black anchor. Doing both gives you visible shadow detail without the flat, gray look that lifting Shadows alone can cause.
How to set the black point
Most editors offer more than one way to do the same thing. These are the four you will meet most often.
With the Blacks slider and a clipping preview
- Set overall exposure first, so midtones look right.
- Hold Alt (Option on a Mac) and drag the Blacks slider. In many raw editors the image turns white and any pixels that are being clipped to pure black show up as dark spots.
- Drag left until a few small areas begin to show, such as the deepest part of a shadow or a dark doorway, then stop. Those spots are the only places that should be pure black.
- Release the key and look at the image normally. If dark detail you care about has disappeared, back off a little.
With Levels
Levels shows the histogram with three sliders under it. The left input slider is the black point. Drag it right to the point where the histogram’s data begins: if you move it to 20, every value from 0 to 20 becomes black and the rest of the range is stretched. The output sliders below do the reverse. Moving the left output slider from 0 to, say, 25 means the darkest tone in the image will be a dark gray of 25, which is the faded look. Holding Alt or Option while dragging the input black slider shows a clipping view here too. Curves and Levels covers both tools in depth.
With Curves
On a tone curve, the bottom-left end of the line is the black point. Slide that end point to the right along the bottom edge and more dark tones become black, which is the same as moving the Levels input slider. Slide it straight up the left edge and the darkest tone becomes gray, which is the same as raising the output black. Many matte looks combine a lifted end point with a second point placed a little higher to keep some contrast in the shadows.
With the black point eyedropper
Levels and Curves usually include a black eyedropper. Click it on the part of the photo that should be the darkest neutral black, and the editor sets that tone to black in each color channel separately. Because each channel is adjusted on its own, the eyedropper also removes a color cast from the shadows. Click on something that really is black and neutral: clicking on a dark colored area will shift the color of the whole image.
- Blacks slider: Clip more tones to black: Drag left. Make the darkest tone gray: Drag right (brightens the deepest tones but rarely gives a true matte).
- Levels: Clip more tones to black: Input black slider to the right. Make the darkest tone gray: Output black slider to the right.
- Curves: Clip more tones to black: End point right along the bottom. Make the darkest tone gray: End point up the left edge.
- Eyedropper: Clip more tones to black: Click the darkest neutral area. Make the darkest tone gray: Not used for this.
Reading the black point on the histogram
The histogram is the most reliable guide. The left edge of the graph is pure black. In a typical well-set image the data reaches the left edge, or just touches it, without a tall spike piled against the wall. A gap between the left edge and the start of the data means nothing in the image is black, and the picture will look flat. A tall spike against the left edge means a large area has been clipped to black and holds no detail.
The right answer depends on the scene. A low-key portrait against a black background is supposed to have a spike at the left edge. A foggy morning should not reach pure black at all, because fog has no true blacks, and forcing one in will make the scene look unnatural. Use the histogram to see what you are doing, then decide with your eyes. Clipping explains when losing detail at either end is acceptable.
Not sure how to read the graph itself? Histogram walks through what each part of it shows and how to use it while shooting.
Black point, contrast and dynamic range
Perceived contrast comes from the distance between the black point and the white point. Pull the two apart and the image gets punchier, at the risk of clipping detail at both ends. Push them together (lift the blacks and lower the whites) and the image gets flatter and softer. A scene with a wide dynamic range, such as a sunlit window inside a dark room, already fills the whole range, so you will often need to protect the shadows rather than darken them further.
Lifting the blacks a long way also exposes the weaknesses of the file. Dark areas of a digital image carry the most noise, and brightening them reveals grain, blotchy color and sometimes banding. Raw files hold far more shadow information than JPEGs and stand up to much more lifting, and a higher bit depth reduces banding when tones are stretched.
The black point as a color choice
In color grading the black point is not only about brightness. Many film-inspired looks tint the darkest tones slightly toward blue, teal or warm brown instead of leaving them neutral. You can do this with the shadows color wheel in a grading panel, or by lifting the end point of the red, green or blue channel separately on the tone curve. Raising only the blue channel’s black point, for example, gives the shadows a cool cast. A lifted, slightly cool black reads as soft and faded; a deep, neutral black reads as crisp and dramatic.
Other meanings of black point
- Printing. Paper cannot reproduce pure black the way a screen can, and very dark tones that look separate on screen can merge into one solid black on paper, especially matte paper. Black point compensation, an option when converting between color profiles or printing, maps the deepest black of the source color space to the deepest black the printer and paper can make, so shadow detail survives. Soft proofing lets you preview this before printing.
- Screen calibration. A calibrated display has a measured black level, the darkest tone it can show. A screen that shows black as a washed-out gray tempts you to clip the blacks too far, so the photo looks heavy on every other screen. Monitor calibration fixes that.
- Raw data. A camera sensor never records exactly zero, even with the lens cap on. The raw file includes a black level value that the raw converter subtracts, so that no light really does display as black.
Prints coming out darker than the screen? Color management explains how profiles, screens and printers have to agree.
Common mistakes
- Crushing shadow detail. Fix: use the clipping preview and stop when only the deepest few spots show. Check eyelashes, dark hair, dark fabric and foliage at 100 percent.
- Forcing a black into a scene that has none. Fix: fog, mist, snow and high-key portraits are meant to be light. Leave the histogram short of the left edge.
- Lifting blacks until the image looks muddy. Fix: a faded look still needs some contrast. Add a second point on the curve, just above the lifted end point, to keep the shadows from going flat.
- Editing on an uncalibrated screen. Fix: calibrate your display, or at least check the image on a second screen before you export.
- Clicking the eyedropper on a colored shadow. Fix: only sample something that is genuinely black and neutral, or the whole image shifts color.
All of these are easy to undo in a non-destructive editing workflow, where the black point can be reset at any time without damaging the original file.
Try this
Open a photo taken on a hazy or overcast day. Make two virtual copies. On the first, hold Alt or Option and drag Blacks until only a few spots show as clipped. On the second, raise the black output (in Levels or on the curve) until the darkest tone is a dark gray. Put the original and both versions side by side and compare their histograms. In ten minutes you will see exactly what the black point does in both directions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the black point in a photo?
It is the tone that is rendered as pure black, a value of 0 in an 8-bit image. Everything at or below the black point becomes black, and moving it changes how deep the shadows look and how much contrast the image has.
What does raising the black point do?
It depends on which control you use. Moving the input black point up (the Levels input slider to the right) turns more dark tones into pure black and adds contrast. Raising the output black (lifting the end of the curve) makes the darkest tone gray, which lowers contrast and gives a faded, matte look.
What is the difference between the black point and the white point?
The black point sets the darkest tone and the white point sets the brightest. Together they define the range of tones in the image and most of its contrast.
Should every photo have a true black?
No. Most photos look best with at least a small area of true black, but foggy scenes, snow and high-key work often look more natural without one. Set the black point to suit the mood of the picture, not a rule.