Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual

248 Photoshop Elements 5: The Missing Manual

Curves: Enhancing

Tone and Contrast

Curves: Enhancing Tone and Contrast

The Color Curves tool is probably Elements’ most-requested new feature ever.

Legions of photo-editing veterans begged for this tool, which works much like

Levels (see page 184), but with many more points of correction. Unlike Levels, in

which you set your entire photo’s white point, black point, and gamma settings,

Curves let you target specific tonal regions. For instance, Curves let you make only

your shadows lighter or only your highlights darker. Maybe that’s why some pros

say, “Curves are Levels on steroids.” (For advice on when to use Levels and when

to use Color Curves, see the box on page 188.)

Elements’ Color Curves tool is a slightly restricted version of its counterpart (just

called Curves) in the full version of Photoshop. In the more powerful Curves tool,

you can work on each color channel separately, as you do in the Levels dialog box.

You can also drag any point on the Curves graph (like the one you see in

Figure 9-10) to manipulate it directly. For example, you can drag to adjust just the

middle range of your greens. Elements doesn’t give you that kind of flexibility.

Since Curves, in its original-strength version, is a pretty complicated tool, Adobe

makes it easier to use in Elements. To start with, you get a group of preset curves

adjustments to choose from (see Figure ...