Curves has really changed my pictures!

[BruceS]

I've recently learned to use curves in photoshop and it's making my pics so much better, I think. I'm just amazed at how the tones and contrast improve.

Here's a pic I took last spring. I thought it was pretty decent at the time.



Here's a version that's had a very slight adjustment with curves (and I cropped it a bit too)



Can you see the tonal difference? Man I wish I had known how to use curves a year ago!

Ever since going digital, I've struggled to get my pics to look like they used to. Never was very good with photoshop so I tried to get it right out of the camera. Problem is with raw, especially, you have to be able to use photoshop to make the pic look right. Finally starting to learn something. Time to go back to the stored tiff files and make a lot of pics better!!
Cheers,
Bruce

[mailman]

Hey Bruce I'm not a Photoshop user so could you please explain what curves are?

[BruceS]

Originally Posted by mailman

Hey Bruce I'm not a Photoshop user so could you please explain what curves are?

Curves is a PS tool Paul. Here's the description from photoshop

Like the Levels dialog box, the Curves dialog box lets you adjust the entire tonal range of an image. But instead of making adjustments using only three variables (highlights, shadows, midtones), with Curves you can adjust any point along a 0-255 scale while keeping up to 15 other values constant. You can also use Curves to make precise adjustments to individual color channels in an image.

I'm not proficient with everything it can do so I only make small basic adjustments. Just like anything else in PS, you can't make a shity pic good, but you can really bring out the information that's already there!
Cheers,
Bruce

[BruceS]

Here's another example. I really liked the result of this original shot.


I just did a VERY slight adjustment with curves (and on the small jpg too). The colours seem to really pop!



Can you see the difference?

[mailman]

Thanks Bruce. Now I know why I stick to point and shoot.

[mailman]

Originally Posted by BruceS

Here's another example. I really liked the result of this original shot.


I just did a VERY slight adjustment with curves (and on the small jpg too). The colours seem to really pop!



Can you see the difference?

Yes. The colors are much brighter after the adjustment

[BruceS]

Originally Posted by mailman

Thanks Bruce. Now I know why I stick to point and shoot.

LOL sometimes I wish I did too Paulie This can be a lot of work, and damn frustrating when you don't know what you're doing! Now it's starting to become fun.
Cheers,
Bruce

[padi56]

Great pictures Bruce but was expecting better voluptuous curves But IMHO the downside of digital over film sometimes pictures look unreal with no feeling.A bit like listening to a fine recorded record on vinyl though a valve amp.Then hearing the same totally digital though a transistor amp.And today with the computer,with picture manipulating software if you know how to use it.In some ways have taken away the photographers skill,but digital is the new age,and film now has gone the way of the Dodo bird.

[BruceS]

Originally Posted by padi56

Great pictures Bruce but was expecting better voluptuous curves But IMHO the downside of digital over film sometimes pictures look unreal with no feeling.A bit like listening to a fine recorded record on vinyl though a valve amp.Then hearing the same totally digital though a transistor amp.And today with the computer,with picture manipulating software if you know how to use it.In some ways have taken away the photographers skill,but digital is the new age,and film now has gone the way of the Dodo bird.

I do agree Padi. Most DSLRs require some adjustment in software even if shooting jpg, if you want the optimal image. You just don't get the tone and colour, straight out of the camera, that you got on film.

Honestly, sometimes I'd like to go back to shooting film, but the resolution of my DSLRs just blows 35mm away. What I'd like to shoot is medium format film. It's all just such an expensive proposition nowdays.
Cheers,
Bruce

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by padi56

Great pictures Bruce but was expecting better voluptuous curves But IMHO the downside of digital over film sometimes pictures look unreal with no feeling.A bit like listening to a fine recorded record on vinyl though a valve amp.Then hearing the same totally digital though a transistor amp.And today with the computer,with picture manipulating software if you know how to use it.In some ways have taken away the photographers skill,but digital is the new age,and film now has gone the way of the Dodo bird.

I used to think the same way, Peter, but having had long discussions with photography dealers I've come around to a different way of looking at digital pictures.

The best film photographers manipulated their pictures in the darkroom, by burning, dodging, cropping, etc. Ansel Adams did not print exactly what he shot. His pics had a lot of retouching in the darkroom. With digital, the retouching takes place in the computer, but the concept is no different.

[BruceS]

I do agree with that Ed, but I think that applied more to b&w. All b&w images you see are "manipulated" in the dark room. Many colour pics however aren't. I've read that National Geographic photographers would shoot pics and send them off HQ where they were developed and printed. At most, most of the pics were just cropped. Those guys had to get it right the first time!

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by BruceS

I do agree with that Ed, but I think that applied more to b&w. All b&w images you see are "manipulated" in the dark room. Many colour pics however aren't. I've read that National Geographic photographers would shoot pics and send them off HQ where they were developed and printed. At most, most of the pics were just cropped. Those guys had to get it right the first time!

You can manipulate color also in the darkroom, Bruce. Maybe not as easily, but it can be done. I'm not sure I agree with Nat. Geo statement. My guess is that there is more than cropping done on those shots you see in the magazine. I don't care how good a shooter you are, you still need to work on the final product outside the camera.

[BruceS]

I realize that you can manipulate the colour, etc to some extent Ed. From what I remember about film, ages ago it seems now is that with slide film you get much more saturated images, but little latitude for exposure, whereas with regular film the lab could do a fair amount with the pic.

Anyway, digital is here now and even most of the top photogs have switched or are switching. Why not use the tools available! Besides, you can't make a bad pic good in photoshop, so the skill of the photographer is just as important. I think what digital has done is made photography more enjoyable for the casual shooter.

[Rockrolex]

Originally Posted by BruceS

I realize that you can manipulate the colour, etc to some extent Ed. From what I remember about film, ages ago it seems now is that with slide film you get much more saturated images, but little latitude for exposure, whereas with regular film the lab could do a fair amount with the pic.

Anyway, digital is here now and even most of the top photogs have switched or are switching. Why not use the tools available! Besides, you can't make a bad pic good in photoshop, so the skill of the photographer is just as important. I think what digital has done is made photography more enjoyable for the casual shooter.

I totally agree with you, Bruce. I find I shoot a lot more now with digital than I ever did with film. And I'm even learning to manipulate the pictures to enhance them.

Now I have to invest in Photoshop and learn to use it. I just have to get over the idea that it's going to be a daunting task.

[padi56]

Well Bruce don't know about making a bad picture look good.Take some of Victoria Beckhams latest pictures.Instead of looking like the stick insect she is. Had her ars# and the rest of her digitally enhanced and airbrushed. So yes you can make a silk purse, out of a pigs ear,if you know how to do it.But agree taking pictures is all about what the photographer sees with the most important lens his/her own eyes

[JJ Irani]

Great pics, Bruce....but not the kind of curves I had in mind!!

[BruceS]

I'll have to get some pics of Victoria and enhance her arse

[padi56]

Originally Posted by BruceS

I'll have to get some pics of Victoria and enhance her arse

Myself would rather kick it,think she is bloody awful.

[BruceS]

[Otis]

Bruce, have you ever tried Adobe Lightroom for processing your RAW files?

It's bloody fantastic. I now only use it when shooting raw, it's just more logical and a totally non-destructive workflow. I only go into photoshop for retouching, noise removal and actual hard manipulation.

There's beta available for testing from adobe, I highly reccommend it!