Amateur Photographer Magazine

Skip to Content

The world's number one weekly photography magazine

Digital Photography Forum - A shared resource

AP Magazine >> Help Team
 |  Print Topic Pages: 1
SimonWarren
newbie


Reged: 29/01/2010
Posts: 4
Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8
      #864969 - 29/01/2010 15:12

This looks like a very useful 5page article on using Curves for colour control. It starts by saying the Curves tool is available in most applications including Elements. I've just bought Adobe Elements 8 and I cannot see how to access this tool. The Adobe Help system just doesn't help at all. Please can someone tell me how to find it?

Thanks, Simon


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
ermintrude
Hinkypuff


Reged: 30/06/2003
Posts: 15100
Loc: London, UK
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: SimonWarren]
      #864978 - 29/01/2010 15:39

Enhance > Adjust Color > Adjust Color Curves

--------------------


(Ctrl A > Ctrl C )


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
SimonWarren
newbie


Reged: 29/01/2010
Posts: 4
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: ermintrude]
      #864980 - 29/01/2010 15:45

No, that tool doesn't appear to bear any resemblance to the one described in AP. I'm familiar with the Curves tool in Paint Shop Pro, which is very similar to what AP describes, and I'm looking for the Elements equivalent.

Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
ermintrude
Hinkypuff


Reged: 30/06/2003
Posts: 15100
Loc: London, UK
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: SimonWarren]
      #864986 - 29/01/2010 16:11

Paint Shop Pro Curves as in this? (Levels is first, Curves starts 1 min 34)

In Elements the S curve graph is on the bottom right of the image in the link I posted.



This is not the item you are looking for?

--------------------


(Ctrl A > Ctrl C )


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
SimonWarren
newbie


Reged: 29/01/2010
Posts: 4
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: ermintrude]
      #864992 - 29/01/2010 16:20

Um - In PSP, and in the description in the AP article, you can adjust separate curves for red, green and blue, and so use it to, for example, make highlights more red and shadows more blue. This doesn't seem possible with the Elements tool though AP says it is.

Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
Roy5051
Still blank


Reged: 02/09/2001
Posts: 1065
Loc: Somerset UK
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: SimonWarren]
      #864998 - 29/01/2010 16:44

You are correct - it seems only possible to correct tones on Elements 8 - there does not appear to be any way to apply curves to individual colours (R,G,B) separately. The tutorial is obviously based on full Photoshop, not Elements. However, if you download Smartcurve from www.brothersoft.com/smartcurve-download-170864.html, double click on the zip file, and add the resulting 8BF file to Elements 8 Filters (Program Files>Photoshop Elements 8>Plug Ins>Filters) you will find a similar curves function in the Filters Menu on Elements 8 (called EasyFilter>SmartCurve), where you can choose which Channel you want to adjust.

--------------------
Roy

Why do people with expensive cameras say you don't need one to take good photographs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/roy5051/


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
SimonWarren
newbie


Reged: 29/01/2010
Posts: 4
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: Roy5051]
      #865000 - 29/01/2010 16:49

Now that does sound useful - I'll give it a go. Thanks for the help. I'll assume the AP article got it wrong - they specifically say Elements has this tool.

Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
taxor



Reged: 09/07/2004
Posts: 730
Loc: Lancaster, UK
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: Roy5051]
      #865113 - 29/01/2010 23:44

Quote:

However, if you download Smartcurve from www.brothersoft.com/smartcurve-download-170864.html, double click on the zip file, and add the resulting 8BF file to Elements 8 Filters (Program Files>Photoshop Elements 8>Plug Ins>Filters) you will find a similar curves function in the Filters Menu on Elements 8 (called EasyFilter>SmartCurve), where you can choose which Channel you want to adjust.



Smartcurve is an excellent product. Hard to believe that it's free. If you want to pay for the real deal, then Curvemeister is superb. I have both running on Elements 3 and 7.

--------------------
"I wanna hold your gland". Lemming & McCartney


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
IanFarrell
newbie


Reged: 18/08/2006
Posts: 2
Re: Issue 30th Jan Page 36 - Using Curves. - Elements 8 [Re: SimonWarren]
      #870076 - 16/02/2010 12:38

Hi guys

Apologies for the misleading sentence. It was my intention to generally introduce Curves and say they are now in Elements, but I should have mentioned the ability to edit individual colour channels is limited to the full version of Photoshop (sadly).

However, Levels is a different matter, and you can achieve very similar (sometimes identical) results in this way. Elements will allow you to select an individual channel in the Levels dialogue, and you can use the middle slider to change the over all colour balance in the same way as described for Curves in the magazine article:

• In the red channel, move the middle slider to the left to add red (subtract cyan) and to the right to add cyan (subtract red).
• In the green channel, move the middle slider to the left to add green (subtract magenta) and to the right to add magenta (subtract green)
• In the Blue channel, move the middle slider tot he left to add blue (subtract yellow) and to the right to add yellow (subtract blue)

Experiment with the black and white point sliders too.

Hope this helps as a workaround for Elements. Apologies for the mix up.

Ian.


Post Extras: Print Post   Remind Me!   Notify Moderator  
Pages: 1

Subscribe now »

NIKON D3X VS SONY ALPHA 850
Both of these full-frame cameras from Nikon and Sony have more than 24.5 million pixels, yet the D3X costs around £3,100 more. Richard Sibley takes a look at each to find out what you get for the extra outlay

More




Extra information
0 registered and 2 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator:  admin, Siuya, Benchista, Fen, lisadb, Damien Demolder, Nigel Atherton, TheFatControlleR, AndrewC, mark_jacobs, daft_biker, Myk.R, OneTen, Hotblack, hhmr 


Print Topic

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      Mark-up is enabled

Rating:
Topic views: 383

Rate this topic

Jump to

Contact Us | Privacy statement Main website

Generated in 0.06 seconds in which 0.004 seconds were spent on a total of 12 queries. Zlib compression disabled.