Photo Color Correction

Adobe Photoshop Tutorial

Curves

The second Adjustment Layer in the Photoshop color management control panel is Curves.

I only used to use Levels (Auto Levels), Curves (Auto), and Brightness/Contrast. If they helped, I would use them; if not, I didn't. Those were brain-dead functions: Photoshop did almost all the work -- virtually no skill or training was required.

One specific area that others teach or emphasize for photo color correction but I don't is Curves. In fact, almost every color correction tutorial I have seen mentions or teaches Curves.

I find Curves to be awkward and annoying. It doesn't offer the level of control I want. It is different from all the other color editing tools. It is the only Photoshop color correction control panel that doesn't use sliders.

More importantly, it looks as if there is nothing Curves can accomplish that cannot be accomplished faster and more easily with the other Photoshop color correction tools.

I get results without Curves. Sometimes, I'll use all the other Adjustment Layers, get a much better looking image, and return to Curves, to see if it can get better. Most every time, using Curves only makes it worse.

I don't know for sure when Curves was introduced, i.e., which version of Photoshop first had Curves. I am guessing Curves was one of the earliest color editing tools, with Levels and Brightness/Contrast, and that it was added before other color editing tools, like Selective Color Options.

Although I don't like Curves, I usually try it every time I am trying to correct a photo, using the Auto setting. This is quick and simple. If it improves the image, I'll use it; otherwise, I don't, and just move on to the next Adjustment Layers.