Learning how to use curves is crucial if you want full control over tonal values and color adjustments in your images. Whether you’re editing photos in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or even working on video in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve, understanding curves allows you to fine-tune brightness, contrast, and color with precision.
Coming to you from MD Welch with Photo Kitchen, this in-depth video explores how to use curves effectively across a variety of editing software. Welch emphasizes the universal nature of curves, highlighting how their interface and functionality remain consistent across most applications. Starting with Lightroom Classic, he breaks down the basics of curves: the line on the graph represents the tonal mapping of an image, with black at the bottom and white at the top. By establishing three key points on the curve—shadows, midtones, and highlights—you gain control over contrast without unintentionally distorting other parts of the tonal range.
Welch goes beyond the basics by showing how curves can enhance color grading. Using the individual color channels, such as red, green, and blue, you can create nuanced adjustments to your image’s mood and style. For instance, raising the shadows in the blue channel can add a cooler tone, while tweaking the red channel can warm up highlights. This method was a go-to for color grading before tools like color wheels became common, and it’s still highly effective today.
A significant takeaway is Welch’s advice to separate adjustments into layers or steps whenever possible. In Photoshop, for example, you can create separate layers for contrast and color adjustments, applying blending modes like Luminosity or Color to isolate their effects. This workflow not only ensures more control but also makes it easier to adjust opacity and refine your edits later. Lightroom users can mimic this approach by working with opacity sliders or additional adjustment layers in programs like Capture One.
Another critical point is understanding the impact of contrast adjustments on color saturation. Welch explains that increasing contrast often boosts saturation as a side effect. To counter this, he demonstrates how to use blending modes in Photoshop or Luma adjustments in Capture One to limit edits to tonal values alone. This approach preserves the original color balance while enhancing the image’s depth and detail. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Welch.
