On Sep 1, 2006, at 10:12 AM, David J Brooks wrote: > So, i noticed some one made a comment on Mat;s back yard shot, that a > smidge of and S curve for contrast would help. > > I have a big problem trying to make S curves when i work on my photos. > They just make crazy colours etc. > > Any guide line or R of T to setting these up.?? > > Do you use the pickers to locate the areas you want adjusted .??
working in Photoshop CS2: - use the command Layers -> New Adjustment Layer -> Curves - in the resulting dialog, set the layer mode to be Luminosity, click OK In the Curves palette, the default is RGB and it should open with a straight line from lower left to upper right. Presuming you have the palette configured with the black end of the grayscale on the left, a gentle, contrast increasing S curve means - click on the line at the lower left quadrant intersection - tug the line down a little bit (this pulls the low values downwards) - click on the line at the upper right quadrant intersection - tug the line up a little bit (this pulls the high values upwards) Tugging the control points left or right also moves the shape of the line and resultant adjustment ... experiment. When you get a result that fits what you want, click OK. NOTES: You can change the transparency and mode from the Layers palette at any time. You can click on one of your curve points and move it with the arrow keys as well for higher precision in adjustment. Remember: it's better to make several SMALL adjustments in multiple layers, shaping the luminance values to your needs, than to use ONE adjustment with large steps. You can merge all the layers when you've achieved your final results if you feel you will not want to edit any more, or are preparing a file for output as a finished piece. Godfrey -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
