Tools, there has never been a better time to leave them behind and throw yourself whole-heartedly into Curves. So if you’ve been taking the easy way out with those inferior adjustment With confidence that you won’t hurt your images. I’ll walk you through the basics so you can get started using them right away
Knowing how to use Curves can help raise the quality of your images to a level that is far beyond what theĬurves is on the list of features that many people are afraid of (Channels, the Pen tool and Displacement Maps come to mind).Ĭurves is on the list because it is not easy to learn on your own and it’s easy to screw up your image if you don’t know what Into a dialog box with a few sliders, like Levels), they always end up with a tool that has nowhere near the versatility of The problem with that is that anytime Adobe tries to simplify the interface (by turning it Many of those other adjustments (likeīrightness/Contrast, Levels, and Color Balance) are actually using Curves behind the scenes while trying to present you withĪ more user-friendly interface. I consider Curves to be the most powerful and versatile adjustment in all of Photoshop. If you’reĪlready comfortable using Curves, you might want to skip the next section and get right into the new stuff starting on page I’ll give you an overview of how to use it before we plunge into the changes that were made in CS3. If you’re not already comfortable with Curves (it’s by no means a new feature since it’s been in Photoshop for over 15 years),ĭon’t worry. For the most in-depth informationĪbout Curves, check out the Understanding Curves chapter in my book Photoshop CS3 Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). Since Curves has been in Photoshop since versionġ.0 (back in 1990), we’ll spend a limited amount of time learning about Curves in this book. This book is all about getting you up to speed on the new features in CS3.