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← All photography toolsLight & Tone Mapper · free photographic study toolSee the tone.
See the tone.
Shape the feeling.
Turn a reference photograph into clear targets for your next retouch. Sample the light, compare your image, and know what to brighten or darken.
Dodge & burn targets · tone maps · lighting plans · shareable studies
01 Face midtone02 Background03 Fabric detail01 Bring your reference02 Compare meaningful areas03 Retouch, reload, refine
Your reference. Your next adjustment.
Build your tone study.
Sample the same kind of detail in both images. Each target is editable.
These are planned incident-meter targets, never readings inferred from pixels. Keep the same measurement method and light-source scope.
Your imageReplace with your latest edited export
Add your image
JPEG, PNG or WebP · up to 20 MB
or try an example below
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Learn with an example:
Choose an area. Place both samples.
Tap a numbered area, then tap its matching detail in each image. Drag to refine; use arrow keys on a focused canvas for precision.
See tonal distributions & RGB details
Reference: solid green · your image: dashed terracotta. Each distribution is normalized to its own image. A similar histogram alone does not mean the same lighting or a good retouch.
Keep it. Teach it. Share it.
Make your process useful to someone else.
Export an annotated map or a target sheet. Photos are never included in a shared link.
Image sharing includes your current photograph and, only if checked, your reference. Share only images you have permission to share. Projects without photos retain reference values and sample locations; add the images again to resume.
Ready. Load your photographs or try a portrait example.
Free · no account · mapping happens in your browser. SDR sRGB previews up to 1,600 px. Your original files stay unchanged.
Learn the decision behind the number
Retouch with a destination.
Match the relationship you admire. Keep the person, material and mood believable.
Choose the same kind of detail.
Compare a cheek midtone with a cheek midtone, a fabric fold with a similar fold. Avoid pores, catchlights and shadow boundaries unless those are your subject. Drag each sample independently when crops or poses differ.
A target, not a brush setting.
Reference 138, your image 118: the difference is +20 brightness levels. Gently brighten that area, export again and recheck. This does not mean 20% brush opacity, +20 Exposure or a 20-stop change.
Use a mask. Preserve texture.
In Photoshop, try separate Curves adjustment layers for lightening and darkening, with soft masks. In Lightroom or another editor, use a local mask and small exposure or tonal adjustments. Recheck color, transitions and the whole portrait.
Match values—or match contrast.
Match reference values uses the sampled brightness as the target. Match contrast around an anchor preserves the reference’s brightness differences while holding your chosen anchor at its current level. This helps you study contrast without forcing different skin tones to the same number.
For example: reference face 160 and background 80 have an 80-level gap. With your face anchored at 140, the background target becomes 60. This is a relationship in rendered pixel values, not a physical lighting ratio.
What exactly is being measured?
Standard dynamic-range images are decoded into an sRGB canvas and reduced to a maximum 1,600-pixel long edge for responsive analysis. Brightness is weighted encoded RGB: 0.2126R + 0.7152G + 0.0722B, on a 0–255 scale. It is a defined luma-style reading, not a light-meter value or necessarily Photoshop’s Luminosity channel. RGB values are also available. Mean averages the circular patch; median is less affected by a few bright details. Transparent pixels are composited over white.
For reliable comparisons, export both images as SDR sRGB JPEG, PNG or WebP with the same proof/export settings. RAW, HDR, TIFF and HEIC are not analyzed. Downsampling, profile conversion and JPEG compression can change small readings; use a sensible tolerance and comparable patches.
How do I match the values in Photoshop or Lightroom?
Use the map as a guide, edit your full-resolution original non-destructively, then export and replace “Your image” here. Your sample positions and targets stay in place. Confirm their alignment if you change the crop. Photoshop’s Info panel can show averaged RGB values; use similar sample areas and the same sRGB export. Our brightness number is a specified weighted RGB calculation, so another editor’s grayscale or luminosity readout may differ.
Color-channel differences need color judgment. A red-channel mismatch can be caused by hue or white balance; do not chase it with dodge and burn alone. Start with brightness, then review RGB.
Does a clipped value mean the RAW file has lost detail?
No. The clipping view marks near-boundary values in this exported image: any channel at 253–255 is red, any at 0–2 is blue, and both is magenta. A saturated color can trigger one channel. Check the original RAW and channel histograms before concluding detail is lost.
Can this recover the original f-stops?
No. Lighting Plan lets you choose incident-meter targets and mark where to measure. F/8 at one point and f/5.6 at another are about one stop apart under the same ISO, shutter, light-source scope and receptor orientation. The camera has one aperture. A dark dress can receive the same light as bright skin. Verify every proposed target with a real meter and test photograph.
Are there correct numbers for skin?
No universal number describes good skin exposure. Skin tone, material, lighting intent and rendering all matter. Use an appropriate reference, preserve believable texture and compare the whole image. Near-target status only describes numerical agreement; it is not a quality score.
What is saved or shared?
Mapping itself sends no photographs to a server. Images live in this tab. Download a project to keep your sample locations and targets; you can explicitly include reduced-size images. A target-only link contains labels and numerical targets but no photographs. PNG and native sharing include only the images you choose. Share reference photographs only when you have permission. Other services on this site have their own submission steps.
Methods and further reading
Read Adobe’s pixel sampling guidance, Curves guidance, and Sekonic’s incident and reflected metering explanation. Our linear-light demo uses the sRGB transfer function; the default display-brightness metric is explicitly encoded RGB, not linear luminance.