Posts Tagged ‘Curves adjustment’

Understanding Tonal Contrast for Better Photos

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Tonal contrast refers to the difference in brightness between different areas of an image. While important for all photography, tonal contrast is particularly important for black and white photography, since there is no color contrast to be had.

Understanding the differences between high and low tonal contrast and the feelings different levels of contrast can contribute to an image are quite important for good photography. In this article we'll look at this in more detail, also covering how you can affect contrast to get the look for your images you want.

Understanding Tonal Contrast for Better Photos

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

August 14th, 2016 at 7:07 am

Split Toning Explained

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Split toning is a technique where a color cast is applied to an image, but the color cast applied to the highlights is different to the color applied to the shadows.

Different color casts can give different feelings to an image. Oranges, reds, and yellows can give a warm, sunny day feeling. Blues can give a cold feeling. Greens and magentas can give a cross-processed film look.

There are quite a few different ways a split toned effect can be applied to an image. Different methods can be applied at different stages of the image editing process, they differ in how much control they offer, and how quickly they can be applied. In this article we'll look at the main split toning methods so you can decide for yourself which one would work best for your needs.

Split Toning Explained

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How to add a vintage haze effect to your photos

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Photos with a soft, low contrast hazy look seem to be very popular at the moment. You can purchase packs of film presets for most image editing software that allow you to easily create this look.

I've also seen several Photoshop tutorials that show how to create a similar look, making use of various adjustment layers. However, the look can also be achieved using only RGB curves, which are available in Adobe Camera RAW, Lightroom, Photoshop, GIMP, and the majority of image editing software. No need to purchase anything additional, and no need for multiple layer Photoshop documents.

In this article I'll cover both creating the hazy look in-camera and using RGB curves. Plus, I'll explain why the curves adjustments create the effect, so you'll better understand how you can modify the curves to fine-tune the effect.

How to add a vintage haze effect to your photos

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Image editing – adjusting color with the curves tool

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Carrying on from the previous article Using the curves tool in Photoshop etc. to improve your photos, in this article we'll look at using the curves tool to alter the color balance in your photos.

Curves can be used to fix a color cast in your photo, or add a color cast. You can adjust the colors in just the highlights, midtones, or shadows depending on where you place the points on the curve. You can even create giant shifts in color such as a cross-processing effect using curves. They are a very useful tool in adjusting the color of a photo.

Image editing – adjusting color with the curves tool

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Using the curves tool in Photoshop etc. to improve your photos

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The curves tool is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to brighten, darken, add contrast, and correct or modify the color balance of your photos. As well as being easy to use, it allows you to make fine grained adjustments that will only effect certain parts of the photo.

Most photo editing programs, such as Paintshop Pro, , GIMP, and many others include the curves tool. In this article we'll look at how to use curves, and some example adjustments.

Using the curves tool in Photoshop etc. to improve your photos

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

December 4th, 2011 at 3:22 pm