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Do you use Curves when editing your photos? Once I learned how to use them, it was like learning a new language. A whole new world opened up for me, and I was able to do so much cool stuff with just one tool.
I am always finding new uses for curves, such a powerful tool. What about you? Have you ever wondered where you stand with your knowledge of Curves? Well, wonder no more – take our quiz and see if you can match the edits with the Curves settings that were used for each of them.
A very effective way to color-tone an image, is to use the RGB curves in Lightroom. This allows you to manipulate colors effectively, and you face no risk of adding any banding or harsh transition lines between colors. My goal is not to try to write an exhaustive tutorial, but I hope I can give you a few ideas so you can experiment on your own.
Two of the most commonly used adjustment layers within Photoshop are arguably the Curves and Levels adjustment layers. But if you’re new to Photoshop and you’ve never used them before, you might feel a little intimidated by them. Or perhaps you’re used to the basics of them, but don’t really understand their full power.
In this video, Aaron Nace at Phlearn walks us through the basics of how they work, the differences between the two, and how we can use them effectively in Photoshop to adjust the contrast, brightness or even colour of our photographs.
One of the things many people struggle with when it comes to composites is matching the colours of the two (or more) shots. Manually dragging sliders around and trying to match two completely different images is just plain tricky, especially if you don’t have a lot of experience with it.
But this tip from photographer and digital artist, Dustin Valkema shows how we can very quickly match up two or more images together for compositing using a simple curves adjustment and a little known option it offers in the “auto” settings.
Curves are one of the most powerful and versatile tools in Photoshop. They can even replace several other tools since you can use them for split toning, or adjusting contrast, exposure, and white balance. But how well do you understand this tool? Can you read the curve chart and figure out how it affects an image? Retouching Toolkit has a fun quiz for you which will tell you how well you understand Curves. Let’s see how you score!
Curves are one of the most valuable and powerful tools contained within Photoshop. Many of us have been using them for years. But do we know all of the tricks when it comes to working with them? Probably not.
This short video from Julieanne Kost at Adobe shows us 13 quick tips for working with Photoshop’s Curves in just two minutes. The tips cover a range of slightly less common techniques, including working with multiple curves simultaneously and making adjustments from the image canvas itself.
Some photographers are intimidated by the Curves tool at the beginning, but this is one of the essential and most versatile tools in photo editing. In this video, Denny of Denny’s Tips shows you four applications of Curves, and why it beats the other tools you can use for the same purpose.
There are several ways to color correct your images in Photoshop and Lightroom. In this video, Jesús Ramirez of Photoshop Training Channel gives you a tip that will speed up this process significantly. He teaches you how to set Photoshop’s algorithms in only a few seconds, so you can change the white balance in a single click next time you need it.
Colour grading is such a complicated and in-depth topic. Sure, you can cheat and buy some preset pack from somewhere, but you gain so much more when you learn to understand colour and its nuances. Then you can create your own grades and get them just the way you want.
That’s the point of the Look Creation & Color Grading series from RAWexchange. The whole course is four hours of video training that covers digital colour theory and principles in both Capture One and Photoshop. It’s a paid course, but there is also this free bonus videos, which shows us how we can analyse and reverse engineer a colour grade, and then apply it to other images using curves adjustments.
You can adjust the tonality of the photos using either Levels or Curves. But how to know which to use? And what are the differences anyway? Unmesh Dinda a.k.a. PiXimperfect shares a video about the differences between these two tools. He uses an interesting analogy, comparing them with different types of calculators. So if you’re wondering what exactly makes Levels and Curves different, this video should make it easier to understand.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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