Should I use Exposure or Highlights to darken a sky?
Highlights, then Whites. Exposure darkens the whole frame, so faces go dark before the sky looks right.
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How to darken a video in Premiere Pro
Lumetri Color’s Basic Correction has everything an over-bright clip needs. Here is the order to use the sliders in, and how to check the result on the scopes.
To darken a video in Premiere Pro, select the clip, open the Lumetri Color panel (Window → Lumetri Color, or the Color workspace) and expand Basic Correction. Drag Exposure left for the overall level, Highlights left to recover a bright sky, and Whites left to bring the brightest tones back under the clipping point. Lower Blacks if the image looks grey.
Auto in the same section reads the clip and sets the tone sliders for you; Adobe describes it as maximising the tonal scale while minimising highlight and shadow clipping. It is a useful start. For a quick fix without opening a project at all, the tool at the top of this page does a similar job in your browser.
Darken a clip with Lumetri Color
Select the clip and open Lumetri Color
Click the clip on the timeline. Switch to the Color workspace, or choose Window → Lumetri Color, and expand Basic Correction.
Set the overall level with Exposure
Drag Exposure left until mid-tones such as skin sit at a natural level. Don’t worry about the sky yet.
Recover the top end with Highlights and Whites
Drag Highlights left to bring back cloud and window detail, then Whites left until the brightest part just stops touching the top of the waveform.
Restore depth, then export
Drag Blacks left and nudge Contrast up if the shot looks flat. Export from the Export tab (or File → Export → Media) as H.264.
What each Basic Correction slider does
- Exposure: moves the whole image brighter or darker. Adobe: dragging left decreases tonal values.
- Contrast: spreads or squeezes the tones around the middle.
- Highlights: the bright areas. Left darkens them and recovers detail.
- Shadows: the dark areas. Leave it alone unless the darkened shot loses shadow detail.
- Whites: the very top. Left reduces clipping in highlights.
- Blacks: the very bottom. Left deepens blacks in a washed-out shot.
Adobe’s documentation heads this group Tone; some versions of the panel label it Light. The sliders are the same either way.
Use the scopes, not just your eyes
Open Lumetri Scopes (Window → Lumetri Scopes) and show the luma waveform. For standard Rec. 709 output, the brightest detail you want to keep should sit just below the top line and the darkest just above the bottom. A flat line pinned to the top is clipping: no slider will recover it, so reduce Whites only until the line starts to bend, and accept the rest.
If your sequence works in an HDR colour space but you are delivering SDR, check that the sequence and export are both set for Rec. 709, or the darkened clip may look different once it leaves Premiere.
A faster route for single clips
For a one-off clip that just needs taming before it goes into a project or out to a client, the tool on this page saves opening Premiere. Auto fix sets Exposure, Highlights, Whites, Contrast, Gamma and Blacks from frames across the clip, every value is editable under More options, and the Levels graph reports clipping. It exports MP4 with the audio unchanged. See recovering blown-out highlights for what the highlight controls can and can’t do.
Darkening in Premiere Pro: questions
What does Auto do in Lumetri Basic Correction?
It analyses the clip and sets the tone sliders to spread the tones across the range while minimising clipping at both ends. Treat it as a starting point.
Can I apply the same correction to several clips?
Yes. Apply Lumetri to an adjustment layer above them, or copy the Lumetri effect from one clip and paste its attributes onto the others.
Why does my darkened export look different from the timeline?
Usually a colour space mismatch between the sequence, the export settings and the player. Make sure all three are Rec. 709 for standard video.
Is there a free alternative to Premiere for this?
Yes. DaVinci Resolve has a free version with full colour tools, and the tool on this page darkens a clip in the browser for free.