Tone & Levels: Reveal Detail in Over- or Underexposed Footage

Load a video and click Adjust in the Tool Panel to access two tonal adjustment tools in vPrism: Levels and Tone.

The Levels tool offers direct control over the darkest tones, the middle of the brightness range, and the brightest tones.

The histogram displays the distribution of tonal values across the image. Black, mid, and white sliders define the input to output mapping.

The standard practice is to set the black and white sliders to the bounds of the data, then adjust the midpoint slider to shape the midtones as needed.

These adjustments can be applied to all color channels together, or to the red, green, or blue channel individually.

The Tone tool works with the same underlying concepts but provides a simpler set of controls for broader adjustments.

Brightness applies a uniform shift across the entire tonal range, useful when the overall image is too dark or too light.

Gamma reshapes the middle of the tonal range while keeping pure black and pure white locked. Increasing gamma brightens the midtones; decreasing it darkens them.

Contrast pivots the tonal range around the midpoint. Increasing contrast pushes values above the midpoint toward white and values below toward black. Decreasing it pulls everything toward middle gray.

With both tools, click Apply to commit the changes or Reset to revert.

These adjustments are particularly useful for revealing detail in underexposed or overexposed footage, a common challenge with surveillance video recorded in high-contrast lighting conditions.