Magnify photos using the Loupe

You can magnify a portion of a photo by placing the Centered Loupe over it. You can also leave the Loupe stationary and set it to magnify the portion of the photo at the position of the pointer. Using the pointer to magnify the photo is useful when you don’t want the Loupe to cover part of the photo.

Figure. Centered Loupe magnifying the portion of the image where the pointer is positioned in the Viewer.

You can change the size of the Loupe and increase or decrease its magnification level. You can also have the Loupe display a photo as a grid that shows the actual pixel composition of the photo, allowing you to see the individual pixel values at high magnification (400 percent or higher). You can also set the Loupe to display readings of the color values of a photo, showing the RGB (%), RGB (8-bit), Lab, CMYK, HSB, or HSL values chosen for the Color meter.

Figure. Centered Loupe set to display a pixel grid and color values.

Show or hide the Loupe

You can also show or hide the Loupe by clicking the Loupe button in the toolbar.

Move the Loupe

Do one of the following:

Use the pointer to magnify parts of a photo

To turn off this feature, choose Focus on Loupe from the Loupe pop-up menu.

Change the size and magnification of the Loupe

You can change the size of the Loupe and increase or decrease its magnification level.

Set the Loupe to show a pixel grid

  1. Set the Loupe’s magnification to 400 percent or higher.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Choose View > Loupe Options > Show Pixel Grid in Loupe.

    • Choose Pixel Grid from the Loupe pop-up menu.

To turn off this feature, choose the menu item again.

Turn on the display of color values in the Loupe

Do one of the following:

To turn off this feature, choose the menu item again.

Change the color value option

For more information, see Sample color values and display camera information.