The Color group holds four Effect Layers: Grading, Color Controls, Film Response, and White Balance. Add them from the Add Layer menu (the plus button at the bottom of the Editing Layers stack), under the Color heading. Each is a layer in the Image Stack and can be expanded, collapsed, enabled, disabled, reset, duplicated, removed, and reordered. Several of the same type can be stacked.

These layers run from broad to fine, and the order matters. Shape the image with the broadest layer first, then reach for the finer ones only to fix what the broad pass left behind — a fine control fighting a broad one is hard to predict and easy to overdo. Grading is the broadest; Color Controls is the finest.

Grading

The primary, broadest control over the image, and the layer to start with. Most overall tone and color shaping happens here; the other layers refine what Grading sets up.

Its controls fall into three groups, described here from broadest to most focused (the panel lays them out in its own order). Each group is more targeted — and more able to flatten the image — than the one before, so work through them in this order.

Contrast and Saturation

The broadest move in the layer: it sets the overall punch of the image in one step.

  • Contrast — increases the slope at middle grey, so values below middle grey darken and values above brighten. This is what makes an image read as punchy rather than flat. It is separate from the Contrast control in the Balance layer, which acts earlier in the pipeline.
  • Pivot — sets the tone that contrast rotates around: the point that holds still while darker tones drop and brighter tones lift. Move it to weight the added contrast toward the shadow or the highlight end of the range.
  • Saturation — raises or lowers color intensity. Contrast and saturation are linked — adding contrast perceptually adds saturation, and cutting contrast drains it — so this slider is here to counter that side effect and hold color where you want it.

Gain, Power, Lift, Offset

A second broad control, borrowed from video grading. Three of these add contrast in a targeted part of the tonal range; Offset stands apart, shifting overall lightness without touching contrast. They are meant to be combined.

  • Gain — adds contrast targeted at the bright values.
  • Power — affects midtone contrast most; the most distinct of the four.
  • Lift — adds contrast targeted at the dark values.
  • Offset — shifts the whole image lighter or darker without affecting contrast.

Highlights and Shadows

The most focused control in the layer, and the last to reach for. Each adjusts only the brightest or darkest values and leaves the rest of the image alone — useful for reining in a blown sky or opening up deep shadows. Because they are so narrowly targeted, large amounts can flatten those regions, which is why they come last.

  • Highlights — adjusts the brightest values.
  • Shadows — adjusts the darkest values.

Color Controls

The finest color control, and the one to avoid for broad work. Use it for small, targeted corrections once the overall rendering is set — pulling a single hue into line, calming one oversaturated range — not for shaping the whole image. For broad color rendering, use the Formation (Aphera 2499) controls or a Custom LUT.

  • Saturation — overall saturation.
  • Skin — a dedicated control for skin tones, the colors viewers scrutinize most, with Hue, Sat, and Lum sliders.
  • Color Ranges — adjusts the Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, and Magenta ranges independently. A selector at the top of the group sets which dimensions are shown:
    • HSL — Hue, Sat, and Lum for each range.
    • Hue — the Hue slider for every range.
    • Saturation — the Sat slider for every range.
    • Luminance — the Lum slider for every range.

Film Response

Controls how neutrals — the grey scale — render, which is one of the most important parts of any image. The layer combines neutral-tone controls, color toning, and a set of base-curve presets.

Base Curve

A preset curve. Each base curve is, in effect, a combination of the layer’s other controls, reaching more complex results than those controls produce on their own — the exact shapes aren’t achievable by hand. Pick one as a starting character, then layer the manual controls on top.

Options: None, Cinema Negative, Classic Print 1, Classic Print 2, Classic Print 3, Classic Print 4, Classic Print 5, Classic Reversal, C Print, Cristal, Instant Film, Nippon, Strong B&W.

  • Strength — mixes the selected base curve in. Enabled when a curve other than None is selected.

Neutral Controls

  • Contrast — increases the slope at middle grey. Unlike the Grading Contrast, it holds the bright values back, adding punch without crushing the highlights.
  • Highlight Peak — lowers the brightest value in the image, easing hard highlights into a softer roll-off while the rest of the tones stay put.
  • Shadow Lift — raises the black point for a faded, matte-print look, leaving the rest of the image unchanged.

Toning

  • Split Toning — tints the shadows; the brighter values take the opposite tone. Toning gives an image a consistent color cast or mood beyond straight white balance. Controls: Temp, Tint, Strength.
  • Highlights Color — tints the highlights independently of the shadows. Controls: Temp, Tint, Strength.

Desaturate

  • Desaturate — toning shifts the overall saturation of the image; this control pulls it back into balance.

White Balance

A simple layer with two sliders, for setting white balance creatively.

The white balance controls in the Balance layer are the technical tool — use them to neutralize a cast and bring images shot at different times or under different light into agreement. Use this layer instead to build a look: to add warmth or coolness on purpose, on top of a neutral base. The two are meant to work together.

  • Temp — shifts warm to cool.
  • Tint — shifts green to magenta.