Curves or not

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:19:01 +0200, Dave wrote:

Asking this question on thìs news group..!

When I do a color correction by using the sampler tools; Color Sample Tool – Adjustment Layer – Threshold – Levels and Curves (which happen to be one of my favorite ways)
should I still use curves or not?

I shot this photo a few minute ago only for the sake of this question, there is quite a lot of different colors in it, and
it can be seen that some places curves makes positive difference and elsewhere not. Like the water display better with curves but the sky looked better before I done curves.

The top one is only Color Sampling and the one below had curves added.
http://dave.photos.gb.net/p48543071.html

Dave

Click on full size for a better comparison

Dave found these unused words:

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:19:01 +0200, Dave wrote:

Asking this question on thìs news group..!

When I do a color correction by using the sampler tools; Color Sample Tool – Adjustment Layer – Threshold – Levels and Curves (which happen to be one of my favorite ways)
should I still use curves or not?

I shot this photo a few minute ago only for the sake of this question, there is quite a lot of different colors in it, and
it can be seen that some places curves makes positive difference and elsewhere not. Like the water display better with curves but the sky looked better before I done curves.

The top one is only Color Sampling and the one below had curves added.
http://dave.photos.gb.net/p48543071.html

Dave

Click on full size for a better comparison

One ‘size’ does not fit all, nor does one adjustment mode fit an image. I’d usually separate the differing areas, give a fairly large feather and then apply my corrections to the active area.

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:30:16 -0800, Sir F. A. Rien
wrote:

Dave found these unused words:

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:19:01 +0200, Dave wrote:

Asking this question on thìs news group..!

When I do a color correction by using the sampler tools; Color Sample Tool – Adjustment Layer – Threshold – Levels and Curves (which happen to be one of my favorite ways)
should I still use curves or not?

I shot this photo a few minute ago only for the sake of this question, there is quite a lot of different colors in it, and
it can be seen that some places curves makes positive difference and elsewhere not. Like the water display better with curves but the sky looked better before I done curves.

The top one is only Color Sampling and the one below had curves added.
http://dave.photos.gb.net/p48543071.html

Dave

Click on full size for a better comparison

One ‘size’ does not fit all, nor does one adjustment mode fit an image. I’d usually separate the differing areas, give a fairly large feather and then apply my corrections to the active area.

Thanks FA. That is the way I feel about it too – applying curves selectively. It keep on being a question because curves is for the sake of correcting contrast of course, and when sampling between a Threshold Level of 4 or 5 to 250 or 253 or so, the contrast should be perfect. But, adding curves (sometimes) even better the contrast. This then, is when curves are not the best option everywhere, because dark may be blackened while the light areas may become to light.

And I agree to those saying that I can lighten the to dark areas with curves and visa versa with the light areas, but why then using the sampling tool? That would completely cancel out what’s done with the sampling tool.

Dave

Dave found these unused words:

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:30:16 -0800, Sir F. A. Rien
wrote:

Dave found these unused words:

On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:19:01 +0200, Dave wrote:

Asking this question on thìs news group..!

When I do a color correction by using the sampler tools; Color Sample Tool – Adjustment Layer – Threshold – Levels and Curves (which happen to be one of my favorite ways)
should I still use curves or not?

I shot this photo a few minute ago only for the sake of this question, there is quite a lot of different colors in it, and
it can be seen that some places curves makes positive difference and elsewhere not. Like the water display better with curves but the sky looked better before I done curves.

The top one is only Color Sampling and the one below had curves added.
http://dave.photos.gb.net/p48543071.html

Dave

Click on full size for a better comparison

One ‘size’ does not fit all, nor does one adjustment mode fit an image. I’d usually separate the differing areas, give a fairly large feather and then apply my corrections to the active area.

Thanks FA. That is the way I feel about it too – applying curves selectively. It keep on being a question because curves is for the sake of correcting contrast of course, and when sampling between a Threshold Level of 4 or 5 to 250 or 253 or so, the contrast should be perfect. But, adding curves (sometimes) even better the contrast. This then, is when curves are not the best option everywhere, because dark may be blackened while the light areas may become to light.
And I agree to those saying that I can lighten the to dark areas with curves and visa versa with the light areas, but why then using the sampling tool? That would completely cancel out what’s done with the sampling tool.

Dave

Curves are for range control, not ‘contrast’. ‘Contrast’ is likened to a ‘curve’ where in the ‘black’ moves to the right, but stays on the base line and the ‘white’ moves to the left, staying on the top line.

For your ‘sampling’ as described, ‘Levels’ with a histogram will be more accurate.

With proper use of curves, you can lighten (gamma curve) dark areas, stretch mid-tones and darken highlights all with one operation.

When I work on photo restoration, I try to use the Magic Wand to select the area, then apply Curves or other proper tools only to that area – always with a feather to avoid hard transitions.

Sometimes, I can make a small adjustment, enlarge the selection, adjust, etc. until the image is where I feel I’ve brought/preserved out all available detail and image tonality in balance.