How to adjust the light and colors of a dish photo

What the Adjust window is

Adjust opens the Adjust photo window, with the photo large at the top and four controls below. Improve automatically brightens a dark photo without changing the tone of its colors and adds a touch of sharpness. Brightness and Contrast go from 50% to 150%, and Saturation, which makes colors more vivid or more muted, goes from 0% to 200%. On all of them, 100% means no change.

As you move them, the preview changes instantly. When you tap Apply, qmen.us runs exactly the same math on the server and saves the photo as WebP, the same size as the other photos on the menu. That's why what you saw in the window is what guests see on the menu.

You can adjust the item's main photo, as long as it's your own, and each photo under More photos, both saved ones and ones you've just added. Each photo keeps its own adjustment.

Why it's worth adjusting

• A good-looking dish sells more. A bright photo with lively color makes people want to order; a dark one gets skipped on the menu.
• No other app. You adjust it in the item's own form, from your phone or computer.
• What you see is what you get. The preview and the saved photo use the same math, so there are no surprises on the public page.
• A light touch, not overdone. The automatic improvement is subtle on purpose: it brightens without making the dish look like plastic.
• It costs nothing. Adjustments are part of qmen.us, which is free for the restaurant.

How to adjust the photo, step by step

Six steps, from the open item to the adjusted photo on your menu.

1. Open the item with the photo

   On the Dashboard, open the Menu and tap edit on the item. If it has no photo yet, tap Choose photo and pick one: you can adjust it even before saving the item for the first time.

2. Tap Adjust

   For the main photo, tap Adjust, next to Change photo. For a photo under More photos, tap the small adjust button in the thumbnail's corner. The Adjust photo window opens.

3. Try Improve automatically

   Turn on Improve automatically. It takes a moment, with the Applying… notice, and the preview shows up already corrected. For many phone photos, that alone does the job. If you don't like it, turn it off: the photo goes back to how it was.

4. Set Brightness, Contrast and Saturation

   Drag the controls and watch the preview. Brightness lightens or darkens everything, Contrast pulls the lights and darks further apart, and Saturation makes colors stronger. You can use them together with the automatic improvement. If you get lost, tap Reset to put everything back to 100%.

5. Tap Apply

   Happy with it? Tap Apply. The window closes and the adjusted photo takes the place of the previous one in the form. If you changed your mind, Cancel closes the window without changing anything.

6. Save the item

   Tap Save at the end of the form. Only then does the adjusted photo go live on your menu.

   Tip: Once you save, the original photo isn't kept on qmen.us. If you think you might want to go back, keep the original on your phone.

Frequently asked questions

Glossary

Item

Each product you sell, with a name, description, photo and price; it's what the waiter adds to the tab.

WebP

A lightweight image format. Every item photo is converted to it on upload, with the longest side capped at 800 pixels.

Change photo

What the button says once that item already has a picture. The new one replaces the old; each item keeps just one picture.

Public page

The page at qmen.us/your-code where guests see your menu, phone numbers, address and opening hours.

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