Using Curves to make color adjustments

[SlidingKat]

Originally Posted by tbcarter2002

Wow, Katie, that is a great tutorial. Thank you for posting. That is the one section of all the classes I took from Andrea that I just couldn't seem to follow. I'm going to try this. Thanks again for taking the time to post it!

I remembered the questions about curve while taking the class. If you have any trouble let me know and I'll try to walk you through it better.

I use this method so much that it only takes me about 2 minutes to adjust the photo and the results always surprise me! Most of the time I don't realize the photo looks different than what I saw when taking the photo until I use this method and it corrects them.

[SlidingKat]

Originally Posted by elenasworld

I still prefer to use the adjustment layers/opacity levels for most of the photo treatments I do.
.

The difference between this method and using levels is it also sets your mid-tones point.

Usually in levels you move the triangles in to the edges of the graph (telling it where the darkest and brightest points should be). In curves you do that plus define the mid point so the software does the math to correctly position the values on the color spectrum.

[elenasworld]

Originally Posted by SlidingKat

The difference between this method and using levels is it also sets your mid-tones point.

Usually in levels you move the triangles in to the edges of the graph (telling it where the darkest and brightest points should be). In curves you do that plus define the mid point so the software does the math to correctly position the values on the color spectrum.

I am sure there are lots of pros and cons to each method.
I have gone through each section of my Scott Kelby books and
while he makes it easy, some are more time consuming than
others. Using the black and white color pickers to adjust midtones
is not my thing. I'd rather spend the bulk of my time on my scrapping,
not adjusting photos. At the end of the day, my dd and the grand
parents dont care if my photos are fantastic, they just like looking
at them, even when they are dark, out of focus, and at all wonky angles.