Do you use Curves??? Pictures included

[Derf]

Just curious....how many people here DO NOT use Curvs??? Just want to
know if it is worth it to do a little thing on it.

If you have not, Here is a picture that Moose took
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/6/108276289-O.jpg

After a little Curvs, it can go to this
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/6/108276289-Ob.jpg

and after a little more tinkering with layers,
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/6/108276289-Oc.jpg

anyone interested on more info or have we all been here already?

[Mellyrose]

I use levels, but in conjunction with many other tweaks, adjustments and color balancing. It takes a lot of developing your eye to master manual levels...especially with aviation photo editing.

[moose135]

Hey Fred, that first one was supposed to be backlit like that :-)

I do use levels all the time when working with photos. The thing I want to learn is curves. No matter what I try, I end up with funky looking photos...HELP ME FRED :!:

[Derf]

SORRY ABOUT USING THE WORD LEVELS IN MY FIRST POST.... CUVES
is right Moose... Not feeling well, was trying to get the kids dressed so I
could drive them to School/Daycare and the lack of sleep just made my
brain moosh.

I used levels for this, Like Mel said, sometimes it is a pain in the a$s to
get it right

When you use Curvs with many layers, you have lots of power to really fix
the photo.

The first shot was the backlit shot that moose took, I dig another up....
Whatever I can do, sombody will be much better. Im sure Mel can chime
in on some better ways but here is how I do a quickie

Origional
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/IMG_6785.jpg

Make 3 layers of the same image
3rd layer is for sharpening....
Do High Pass
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/1.jpg

10%
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/2.jpg

Set the layer to hard light.....100% opacity will be oversharpened and
grainy.... 1% will have almos no sharpening or noise added...
(Best sharpening I found so far because it lets you decide exactly how
much for conditions on the picture)
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/3.jpg

Once Sharpened I go to the middle layer and play with curves "CTRL - M"
here is the setup in curves I used for this picture, every picture will be
totally different for each picture.
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/4.jpg

I then will change the Opacity again to my liking
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/5.jpg

for the final step, do levels and set the high and low....Your done
(Remember, this is the quickie-there can be many many more steps for
color and you may erase certain parts of layers....I had one that was like
10 layer for just curves... That sucked so bad

This is the final edit with the original under.....
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/6final.jpg
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/IMG_6785.jpg

[Derf]

As you can see, I darkened the sky and lightened the aircraft....
Depending on what you are trying to do, if you try the dodge and burn
tools, it may be needed at times to make certian things in the image POP!
I use this in With Curves in editing for some pictures.

Here is an example of what the dodge and burn ONLY will do to an image
http://fromtheflightdeck.com/temp/nycaviation/Curves/IMG_4643.jpg

[Mellyrose]

Ok ok....I can't do this right now, but gimme some time later and we'll get into it. Curves are WAYYYYYYY trickier than levels. You don't even wanna go there unless you really know what you're doin.

[Derf]

Then there is stacking mutible images in photoshop to create a large
dynamic range. I love this! Take one shot overexposed, and one under exposed and get this
http://www.longislandwallpapers.com/photos/74669604-L.jpg
It takes a lot of playing but This shot was probably about a 2 minute with a 20 secons exposuer combined

[Derf]

Ok ok....I can't do this right now, but gimme some time later and we'll get into it.

Cuel, I love to use curvs and have learned alot but still have much to learn. Would appreaciate to hear what you have to say about this Mel,
or anyone else whom has played with it.

[nwafan20]

I tend to use both curves and levels, although curves are kind of confusing and I really havn't mastered them yet.