This introductory chapter will lay a foundation of knowledge about Curves that you can build on as you master this incredibly powerful Photoshop adjustment tool.
Getting Started
In this lesson you'll get an overview of Curves so you can understand the basic concepts involved, which will provide a solid foundation upon which to build as you become a Curves expert.
The best way to gain confidence in applying adjustments with Curves is to understand how to "read" a curve. In this lesson you'll learn what various shapes on a curve translate into in terms of changing the appearance of an image.
You'll be spending a lot of time using the Adjustments panel when you apply Curves adjustments, and this lesson will teach you everything you need to know about the many controls found on this panel.
There are a variety of ways you can change the appearance of the Curves adjustment, and in this video you'll see what those options are and how to change them to suit your personal preference.
By configuring the Auto Color Correction options in Curves, you can apply quick color and tonal adjustments to your images. This lesson will show you how to best configure and utilize this adjustment option.
The Show Clipping option enables you to make more informed adjustments in Curves, ensuring that you can maximize tonal range in the image without sacrificing highlight or shadow detail.
In this chapter you'll gain a complete understanding of the basics of Curves, from relatively automatic adjustments to the basics of manually adjusting the curve.
Curves Basics
Presets are a great way to get started with Curves, and this lesson will show you what they are and how to use them.
The eyedroppers in Curves allow you to quickly establish the black, white, and neutral values within an image. This video will show you how to put these controls to work and how to tailor them to your specific needs.
Most images benefit from setting the darkest pixels to black and the brightest pixels to white. This lesson will demonstrate the best method for applying black and white point adjustments.
Curves use anchor points to adjust the shape of the curve, and thus to affect the appearance of the image. You'll learn how to add and adjust anchor points in this lesson.
Just about every image can benefit from an S curve, and this lesson will show you how it is done and explain why it is such a great tool for most images.
This chapter will focus on taking full advantage of the incredible power of Curves with some powerful adjustments.
Making the Most of Curves
The ability to apply adjustments with Curves by working directly on the image makes Curves much easier to use. In this lesson you'll learn to take full advantage of this feature.
At times you'll find that applying a Curves adjustment leads to unwanted shifts in color. In this video you'll learn how to use the Luminosity blend mode to avoid color shifts.
The Curves adjustment allows you to make changes that target specific tonal ranges within an image. As you'll see in this lesson, when you add a layer mask to focus the adjustment to a particular area, the power of Curves increases significantly.
In this chapter you'll discover how Curves can be used for color adjustments in addition to tonal adjustments.
Curves for Color
Photographers tend to think of Curves as a tool for applying tonal adjustments to an image, but as you'll learn in this lesson, Curves can also be used to apply color adjustments.
By using multiple anchor points for each color curve, you can apply incredibly sophisticated color adjustments to your images. This video will show you how it's done.
If you start your color adjustment in Curves by focusing on the end points for each color curve, you'll also be improving the tonality of your image at the same time. You'll learn how to use this technique in this lesson.
This chapter will provide you with some creative inspiration when it comes to using Curves with your photos.
Creativity with Curves
While you generally want to preserve as much shadow and highlight detail as possible, in this lesson you'll discover how an extreme contrast adjustment can produce an interesting interpretation of an image.
In most cases you want to maximize tonal range in an image. As this lesson will demonstrate, sometimes you may want to reduce contrast significantly for creative effect.
The Pencil tool in Curves can be very helpful for fine-tuning your adjustments, but as you'll see in this video it can also be used to great creative effect.
Creating an image with inverted color is remarkably easy in Curves, and as you'll see in this lesson, with a few variations you can greatly extend the creative possibilities.
In this chapter you'll see several examples of a real-world workflow for individual images, which will help provide context for your Curves adjustments.
Curves Projects
In this lesson we'll start with an image that exhibits very low contrast and see how it can be optimized using Curves and a few other adjustments.
This lesson will provide a great example of the use of Curves for both tonal and color adjustments, and will also demonstrate how additional adjustments can be used in conjunction with Curves.
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