Working with Curves, a teaser introduction.
This was a photograph posted in the picturewhores community by bellamode. I every now and then will grab a web photo and work with it to see what can come of regular snapshots.

Although I did a good amount of photoshop work I wanted to focus on what lelion was posting a few comments back. Curves.
This particular photo had no grey card (since i got it off the net) and no good white point to balance the color. Therefor a good understanding of curves is needed to get this color to its prime.


Curves is key in color correcting. There are many tools in Photoshop to alter color from burches, to overlay layer, channels, filters, 3 party software, the list goes on and on. But, there are great advantages in using Curves compared to anything else. First off it is really nice to KNOW what is happening in your color channels than to have other filters and software calculate color and throw it back at you. Also, when working on multiple computers or locations you may not have those handy 3rd party tools around. Rest asure Curves will always be there.

I do use a few outside sources here and there, but I always figure out how to replicate those for I can use the same effects without handy tools. Maybe that is the overachiever in me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I find comfort in knowing that a fresh install of Photoshop doesn't inhibit my editing skills.

-xjoshuax