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Known Participant
August 23, 2026
Open for Voting

Replace the "Exposure" Adjustment Layer (Ps Beta) with "Brightness/Contrast"

  • August 23, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 129 views

In the current release of Ps Beta “Exposure” appears duplicated - as a standalone adjustment layer and as part of the newer beta “Light” adjustment layer (that brings Camera Raw Filter adjustments into Ps layers).

Brightness/Contrast and Exposure don’t accomplish the same things in an image. 

  • Exposure: Multiplies pixel values. It scales the highlights dramatically and can easily blow out bright areas if pushed too far.
  • Brightness: Shifts midtones and compresses the highlights/shadows. It protects absolute whites and blacks from clipping, making it much safer for quick adjustments.

 

I would like to see the former “Brightness/Contrast” adjustment layer be restored to replace the current standalone (and duplicative) “Exposure” adjustment layer (in Ps beta).

There’s no need for redundancy of “Exposure” since “Brightness” offers more control in certain types of light. And, it slows our workflow and is klunky to have to use the hamburger menu to restore an often-used feature by toggling to a “pre-2026” adjustment option.

If the newer “Light” adjustment layer already contains “Exposure” (+ other ACR related settings) then, IMO, “Exposure” as a standalone in the category with Levels & Curves, further down in the adjustment layers list, can be removed and restored to a “Brightness/Contrast” adjustment layer. That would be a very welcome fix.

Thanks!

2 replies

kritagyan
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 4, 2026

Hi! Quick introduction, I’m Kritagya, the Product Manager who worked on bringing this feature to Photoshop.

Thanks so much for the feedback! Just to share some context on Brightness: we’ve moved to Exposure while also adding more granular controls with Highlights, Shadows, Whites, and Blacks. The goal is to give users more flexibility and control over tonal adjustments than Brightness alone could provide.

I agree that this creates some redundancy with the existing Exposure adjustment layer, and that’s something we’ll look into going forward. More broadly, we’re trying to reduce redundancy across adjustment layers, as having too many similar options can make the Adjustments panel crowded and make it harder to find the adjustments that matter most. Our direction is to consolidate the most useful controls into a more comprehensive adjustment layer.

That said, I’d love to hear more if you still feel strongly that Brightness should be brought back. Really appreciate you trying the feature and sharing your thoughts!

Participant
September 10, 2026

Can you add Brightness back as an option please?  Or make it so that we can set the “Legacy (Pre 2026)” version as default?  I don’t need or want all the other options: Brightness and Contrast did exactly what I needed them to do, quickly, without having to mess with 6 different sliders.