This is the best way to add contrast because you lose nothing: extreme highlights and shadows are untouched. Do this in color and the colors pop, too. This is better than using Photoshop's Contrast slider because it does not lose or clip highlights or shadows.his is a lot of additional contrast. Don't use these to compare USM vs. Curves, since I added more with the USM than I did in the curves example. Either way can be as subtle or as crazy as you want. USM: 20% at 30 pixels.