Curves Tutorial

JA
Posted By
Jorge Alvarez
Jun 30, 2003
Views
86
Replies
1
Status
Closed
Hi there,

I’ve never used the full Photoshop (Elements 2.0 is my first photo-editing software) and I am looking for a curves tutorial for beginners. I use Levels to tweak my photos, but I’ve been told that Curves gives better results. I’ve just installed the Shipley Extras.

Thanks in advance for any pointers,

-Jorge
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DT
David Thompson
Jul 1, 2003
"Jorge Alvarez" wrote in message
Hi there, I’ve never used the full Photoshop (Elements 2.0 is my first photo-editing software) and I am looking for a curves tutorial for beginners. I use Levels to tweak my photos, but I’ve been told that Curves gives better results. I’ve just installed the Shipley Extras. Thanks in advance for any pointers,
——————-
It’s only my opinion, but Levels has a significant advantage when it comes to matching the captured image luminance range to the available display range. Moving those two little pointers to the beginning of the shadows and the end of the highlights on the histogram is simple in Levels, but pure guess work in Curves. Curves’ value is in tweaking the gradient across the luminance range. (Maybe contrast is a better term, but where the input/output gradient is steep, the contrast is locally higher, or if it’s shallow the contrast is lower). For instance, making the curve slightly "S" shaped will allow more contrast in the midtones without completely sacrificing contrast in the shadows & highlights. On the other hand if much of the detail you wish to display is in the shadow area, you can increase the gradient there and flatten the midtones and/or highlights slightly. This is very much a "try it" exercise, not a science. Just load an adjustment layer and have at it.

My work process always includes a Levels layer, then usually a Curves layer on top of that to do the final tweaking. If color correction is needed, I usually do that in the Levels layer, before tweaking in the Curves layer.

Regards, David Thompson
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