Apple Color 1.5 - Manual (Page 29)

• The midtones are the distribution of all tonal values in between the black and white
points.
White Black Mids
An image’s contrast ratio is the difference between the darkest and brightest tonal values
within that image. Typically, a higher contrast ratio, where the difference between the
two is greater, is preferable to a lower one. Unless you’re specifically going for a
low-contrast look, higher contrast ratios generally provide a clearer, crisper image. The
following two images, with their accompanying Histograms which show a graph of the
distribution of shadows, midtones, and highlights from left to right, illustrate this.
In addition, maximizing the contrast ratio of an image aids further color correction
operations by more evenly distributing that image’s color throughout the three tonal
zones that are adjusted with the three color balance controls in the Primary In, Secondaries,
and Primary Out rooms. This makes it easier to perform individual corrections to the
shadows, midtones, and highlights.
29 Chapter 1 Color Correction Basics