Nikon Capture NX2 user manual Show Before / After Histogram, Auto Contrast, Set White Point

White Point Slider

Move the white point slider to the left to set all luminosity values from the point you have selected and to the right to complete white (or to the maximum lightness of the channel's color when working on an individual color channel). This will redistribute all of the values to stretch the luminosity range to match the entire possible range of values. It is recommended that you move the white point slider all the way to the left to match up with the right-most information from the displayed histogram. This adjusts the current image so that the lightest values in the image match the lightest value that can be displayed in a digital file.

t Show Before / After Histogram

This button toggles back and forth between before and after histograms. The before histogram always

remains the same and represents the histogram before any adjustments have been made to the image by the current channel. The after histogram always updates itself based on the changes made in the Levels & Curves step.

y Auto Contrast

Click on this button to automatically distribute the colors of each individual channel by modifying the white and black points within each individual channel. Ctrl-click (Windows) or option-click (Macintosh) to affect the current selected channel only.

Capture NX 2 automatically selects white and black points that exclude a certain percentage of the brightest and darkest pixels in the image, steepening curves for enhanced contrast. The exact percentage of pixels excluded can be specified in the “Preferences” dialog. By default, 0.5% of the brightest and darkest pixels are excluded, producing a curve that makes optimal use of the output tone range, while preserving details in shadows and highlights.

u Set White Point

Clicking on this button will change the mouse cursor into a white point dropper cursor. By then clicking on

your image, you will set the white point sliders for all three color channels to the value of the color selected by the white point dropper. Use this tool along with the Double Threshold option of the image

information overlay control within the “Histogram” section of the Photo Info palette to identify the lightest value in the image that you want to be white. The select white point button will affect both the tonality of the active image as well as the color balance.

i Set Neutral Point

Clicking on this button will change the mouse cursor into a neutral point dropper cursor. When you click on your image, Capture NX 2 will attempt to make the selected color neutral without affecting the tonal values by setting the mid point sliders for all three color channels. The select neutral point button affects only the color balance of the image; however, if the targeted color contains a significant amount color, this feature will affect the tonality of the image.

Chapter 20 — Adjust Menu Light > Levels & Curves 185