Adobe Camera RAW Video Tutorial - Tone Curve Tab
Posted by Wilk | Filed under Adobe Camera RAW tutes
The tone curve tab is one of my most used. I tend to at least put a slight "S" curve on just about everything I do. There are times when a photo begs for contrast, and times when it needs just a little punch. Tone curves give you the most control on how contrast is added.
The "S" curve is pretty basic and can be done through the Parametric tab or the Point Curve tab. It’s basically what you’re more comfortable with. I’ve done curves for several years now using points, so that is what I go with most of the time. The Parametric curves tab is a great place for those less familiar with tone curves, because it sets the points for you, you simply adjust the 4 tone ranges separately to taste. It’s pretty easy to stay "out of trouble" with the Parametric tab because they give you a tried and true range through which you make your curve adjustments. The Point curves are great used with care, but you can also go way beyond the accepted norms to make a photo look pretty darned funky. The good news is, it’s not etched in stone—no setting on this interface is. you can always correct or clean the slate and start over.
The Parametric Tone Curve tab:
For those new to curves, this is the best place to start. As we look at the interface, what is most prominent is the histogram with a linear line going from bottom left to top right. This linear line is what you manipulate to create the classic "S" curve. When the line is linear, it means there is no adjustment taking place. The histogram itself, which is often much of a mystery to some photographers, especially new ones, is a little complicated to explain, but once you gain a basic understanding of what a histogram actually is, it will change the quality of your post processing and the quality of your shooting. Understanding and using the histogram on your camera in the field is the most important skill you can learn in terms of understanding the light you are capturing.
Just a quick overview of what an Histogram actually is: An Histogram is a representation of how many pixels are represented in each specific range of tone values. All Histograms work from left to right, the left side being solid black and the right side being solid white. Many Histograms are broken down into quarters as this one on the right is; the line in the center from left to right represents middle gray. The line to the left is half way between middle gray and black and the line to the right of the middle is half way between middle gray and white. Whenever you see the so-called "mountain peaks" in histograms it shows at the top of that peak that there are a whole lot of of pixels in the photograph represented by that specific tonal value. Where you see the valleys, there aren’t so many pixels represented by that tonal range. So an Histogram shows you how many pixels are represented by the full range of tonal values from black to white.
Using the Parametric Tone Curve interface is really quite easy. The 4 sliders are clearly spelled out as Highlights, Lights, Darks and Shadows. As you move a slider to the left, that part of tone values in the photo become darker. As you move a slider to the right, the values in the photo become lighter.
A traditional S curve using the Parametric tone curve is achieved by at minimum moving the "Lights" slider to the right and the "Darks" slider to the left. Easy does it! The "average" well exposed photo only needs a slight S curve to bring out good contrast and make the colors pop. With each photo though, feel free to play with the sliders to your hearts content.
Make sure though that you do turn on the shadow and highlight clipping indicators. It’s very hard (at least for me) to see when I’m starting to clip the shadow areas especially. A photo with a lot of clipped shadows may look ok on the screen until you zoom into the shadow areas and take a careful look, but chances are very good that a photo with a lot of clipped shadows will not print well at all. Always remember, whether it’s tone adjustments, noise reduction or any of those types of things, what you see on the screen is in a lot of cases nowhere near the results you will get on paper.
Point Tone Curve Tab:
This is a "traditional" Tone Curve interface much like the one available in Photoshop itself. This interface requires a little more caution as you can get yourself in trouble so-to-speak by laying out a curve that gives unexpected results by going too far with any particular adjustment. Anyone used to Tone Curves though would be quite comfortable in this tab.
What sets this interface apart from the Parametric tab is the ability to set pre-determined curves in the form of a drop down circled in red in the image to the right. The choices are:
- Linier: is a "reset" of sorts, it gives you a linier curve (straight line at a 45° angle) with no points set
- Medium Contrast: sets a moderate S curve
- Strong Contrast: sets a strong S curve.
- Custom: By default if you start from a blank slate and set a couple or few curve points, this turns to custom automatically. Same holds true if you manipulate one of the preset curves (which is perfectly fine to do)
This is the tab I tend to use the most in particular because of the presets. Working with Tone Curves by enlarge is not rocket science, and the presets will usually do a great job on most of your work.
Tags: adobe camera raw, nondestructive, photoshop, video tutorial
One Response to “Adobe Camera RAW Video Tutorial - Tone Curve Tab”
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Yuriy Says:
November 14th, 2008 at 2:08 pmHi, thank you very much for short and clear video tutorial. I found an explanation of one thing that I looked for a long time. Thank you!
