Lightroom Mag June-July

Lightroom Magazine
Beware of Dangerous Curves
When an adjustment in the curve creates more sudden and
abrupt changes, it can cause harsh contrast and color shifts,
as well as rough and ugly tonal transitions. I call these “dangerous
curves” because they can be bad for your photo if
you’re after a more traditional look. Here are a few examples:
Steep Grade: When a curve becomes very steep and closer to
vertical, the contrast will be extreme (you can see this in the
next example for Clipped Endpoints). If that is your intent, of
course, then this is a good way to get that effect.
Wild and Crazy: Some dangerous curves may make an image
look bad in the traditional sense, but they may still produce
an effect that you like. For instance, the curve adjustment
below has partially inverted the tones and colors in the
image, which creates an interesting false color effect. When
the image is converted to black and white, the same curve
creates a solarization look, hearkening back to a classic effect
from traditional photographic darkrooms.
Clipped Endpoints: When the white endpoint (upper-right
corner) or black endpoint (lower-left corner) is moved horizontally
along the “ceiling” or “floor” of the curve grid, you
can easily cause highlight or shadow clipping (forcing those
tonal values to total white or black).
Out on a Ledge (or a Shelf): Each point on the unadjusted
diagonal curve line represents a different tonal value, from
shadows in the lower left, to midtones in the middle, to
highlights in the upper right. If you create an adjustment
that results in a section of the curve becoming more of a
ledge or a shelf, this will make most of the values between
the two points the same, or close to the same tonal value.
The visual result will be areas of ugly, flat, gray tones.
LIGHTROOM MAGAZINE › ISSUE 62
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