DaVinci™ Highlight Control Pro™

Highlight Control Pro™complements the Shadow Control Pro™ as id does exactly the opposite: it affects the highlights, while leaving the shadows intact. So, everything said about Shadow Control Pro™ still stands.

Start the tool from the 'Image' menu:

The user interface looks just like Shadow Control Pro™:

Tonal Width
It specifies at what brightness the highlights end. If the slider is all the way to the left, only the very brightest elements of the image are considered highlights. If the slider is all the way to the right only but the darkest constituents of the image will remain unaffected.

Radius
Radius dictates how the transition between affected and unaffected elements is processed. If the radius is small the transition is abrupt. Larger radius creates smoother transition. In general, this parameter needs to be modified only in the extreme cases.

Amount
Amount specifies the amount of darkening the highlights will receive, with 0 meaning there is no darkening.

Color correction
Changing the brightness of the image elements can inadvertently affect their color. This control allows the user to compensate for that effect. Color correction of 0 means the color remains unaffected. Values less than 0 will reduce the color, while values larger than 0 will saturate the color.

General guidelines
Using this tool is actually very simple. The idea is to maximize the tonal width, while minimizing the amount. This will produce the most natural effect. So, when starting, first push the Tonal Width slider to the right until you see the change in the areas you don't want modified. Then tone the Tonal Width down a bit and modify the Amount slider until you get the desired effect. Radius should be changed after you are satisfied with Tonal Width and Amount settings. Finally, the last thing to do is adjust the color correction, if needed.

Several more examples: