Brightness/Contrast Is Gone: Use Light in Photoshop

You opened the adjustment menu for Brightness/Contrast and it was gone, or you are still stamping a merged layer just to reach Camera Raw exposure sliders. Photoshop's new Light adjustment layer puts Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks on a live layer, so you can mask the subject and keep text, pixels, and other adjustments editable.

Light shipped in Photoshop Beta from 27.9, then in the Photoshop 27.10 release. It upgrades Brightness/Contrast for 8-bit and 16-bit RGB documents. Other color modes still use Brightness/Contrast the way they did before. Existing actions and plugins that create Brightness/Contrast layers keep working.

1. Open the image and look at the Layers panel.
2. Click Create new fill or adjustment layer (the half-filled circle) and choose Light. You can also use the Adjustments panel. Light sits where Brightness/Contrast used to be.
3. If a selection is active, Photoshop turns it into the layer mask. Select Subject first when you only want the adjustment on the person or product.
4. Open Properties and use the six sliders. Nothing is burned into the pixels below. You can hide the layer, change the mask, or drag the sliders a week later.

Create new fill or adjustment layer in Photoshop 27.10. Light sits at the top of the list, where Brightness/Contrast used to be.

If you still need the old Brightness and Contrast pair, add a Light layer, open the Properties panel menu, choose Light version, then pick a legacy option. That switch is per layer. The next Light layer you create comes back as the new controls.

A global Light layer is fine for a first pass. The sliders still fight each other if you grab Contrast first.

Light Properties in Photoshop: Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. Double-click a slider to reset it.

Work them in this sequence, then stop when the histogram and the image both look right:

1. Exposure. Set overall brightness. If highlights clip, you went too far.
2. Whites and Blacks. Set the brightest and darkest points. Lift Blacks if shadows turn to mud. Ease Whites back if the sky goes empty.
3. Highlights and Shadows. Recover detail in the ends after Exposure has already moved. If you raised Exposure on a face, pull Highlights down so skin does not blow out.
4. Contrast last. Contrast changes the spread of everything you already set. A small move is usually enough.

Double-click a slider in Properties to reset it. Rename the layer (Subject, Background, Glow) as soon as you add a second Light layer, or the stack becomes guesswork.

Adobe's note on performance matters here. Exposure, Contrast, Whites, and Blacks stay live. When Highlights or Shadows are in use, Light pauses while you edit layers underneath it. You will see the effect drop out while you paint, type, or drag another adjustment, then return when you let go. That is intentional, so the sliders do not hitch. Do not chase a "bug" by deleting the layer. Finish the edit below, then judge the result with Light back on.

The reason Light is worth a new habit is not the sliders. Camera Raw already had those. The reason is a mask per Light layer, with the rest of the file still live.

To lift a subject and hold the background:

1. Target the pixel layer, run Select Subject, and keep Sample All Layers on if the subject is a composite.
2. Add Light. The selection becomes the mask. Raise Exposure a little, then pull Highlights down if the face clips. Add Contrast last.
3. Add a second Light layer. Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac) the first mask onto it, replace it, then invert with Ctrl/Cmd+I so this layer only hits the background.
4. Lower Exposure and Contrast on the background until the subject reads first. Lift Whites if a sky needs to stay.

To keep a Light effect out of the darks, double-click the empty space to the right of the layer name, open Blend If, and move the Underlying Layer black slider inward. Alt/Option-click the slider to split it so the transition is not a hard cut.

You can stack Light with the other Camera Raw-style adjustments Adobe already moved into the layer stack (Color and vibrance, Clarity and Dehaze, Grain). Use Light for tone, then warmth or punch on separate layers so each one has its own mask.

Camera Raw Filter can make the same exposure moves, but only after you merge what you see. The usual loop is stamp visible (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E / Cmd+Option+Shift+E), convert for smart filters, open Camera Raw, then throw that stack away the moment the type layer or the subject cutout has to change.

A Light adjustment layer sits above those layers. Change the headline, move a logo, paint on a layer below, and the lighting comes back when you commit the edit. That is the case for Light over Camera Raw inside a layered PSD: not "better sliders," but no flatten step.

Use Camera Raw when you want the full develop module on a smart object, including tools Light does not have (vignette still is not in this layer). Use Light when the file still has type, multiple pixel layers, or a mask you expect to revise.

The plugin Configurator Reloaded 2 can add Light as a button so you create the layer with one click. You can also type the name in Command Search and run it without opening the adjustment menu.

Light can still shift in Properties labels while Adobe iterates. Steps above follow current desktop help and public demos of the 27.10 layer:

• Adjust image lighting with Light, Adobe HelpX (updated 9 Sep 2026)
• New Light Adjustment Layer in Photoshop Beta, Adobe Community
• Photoshop 27.10: New AI editing tools, Light adjustment layer, and more, Adobe Community
• PiXImperfect, Light adjustment layer walkthrough, YouTube
• PHLEARN, Light adjustment layer walkthrough, YouTube