On this shot but packed video, Julieanne Kost from Adobe takes a look at a large number of tips for using the curves tool in Photoshop.
Here are the 13 tips that Kost mentions in this very quick but useful video:
- Auto – click the auto button to let Photoshop autocorrect the image.
- Option/alt on the auto to get further options.
- Using the arrows will move the point and pressing the shift will move it in larger increments.
- Use the targeted adjustment tool and click on an area in the image and then click up or down to increase or decrease the effect.
- use the shift and the plus key to move along the curve between points and shift-click to select several points at once and CMD/CTRL D to de-select all points.
- With a point selected tap to delete/backspace to remove it or drag it off the grid to remove it.
- Use the eyedropper tool to set a black point/white/natural grey point in the image. When setting black or white point hold the alt/option key and drag the slider to preview areas to show areas which will be clipped to pure black/white.
- Press the / button to toggle the preview on/off and press the alt and mouse click on the grid on the curves panel to toggle the number of grid lines (you can also access more options for the grid using select curves display options.
We have covered the use of the Curves in Photoshop many times in the past including “How to Change Colors in Photoshop“, “Finding Hidden Exposures in Photoshop” and “Color Correction and Color Matching Using Curves“. More recently we had Josh Cripps of Professional Photography Tips on “How to Dramatically Separate Colors with Curves in Photoshop” and Bryan O’Neil Hughes latest video – “Don’t be Afraid – How To Use Curves in Photoshop“.
You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section. You can see all of Kost’s videos on LensVid on this link.