Everything you need to know about Curves
Curves gives you precise control over three key tonal regions of your image: shadows, midtones, and highlights. This simplified approach provides the power of a full curves adjustment without the complexity of manipulating individual curve points.
Parameters
- Shadows
Adjusts the dark areas of your image. Negative values (-0.50 to 0) deepen shadows, making darks darker. Positive values (0 to +0.50) lift shadows, revealing detail in dark areas. - Midtones
Controls the middle brightness values. Negative values darken midtones, positive values brighten them. This is similar to adjusting gamma or exposure for the "meat" of your image. - Highlights
Adjusts the bright areas. Negative values pull down highlights, recovering blown-out detail. Positive values push highlights brighter, adding brilliance. - Strength
Controls how much of the curves adjustment is applied. At 0, no change is visible. At 1.0, the full adjustment is applied.
How It Works
The plugin creates a smooth tone curve using three control points. Moving the sliders reshapes this curve, which then remaps every brightness value in your image. The result is a smooth, natural-looking tonal adjustment.
Tips
- For an S-curve contrast boost: lower shadows slightly, raise highlights slightly
- Lift shadows (+0.1 to +0.2) to create a faded, matte film look
- Lower highlights (-0.1 to -0.2) to recover detail in overexposed skies
- Adjust midtones for overall brightness without clipping shadows or highlights