Photoshop Curves - Pt.2 Local Adjustments - The curves tool for Landscape Photographers

[@brianp1888]

Another excellent resource. Roll on part 3.

[@alexnail]

Thanks Brian!

[@joaoquintela1575]

This is just brilliant. Very nice.

[@alexnail]

Thank you :)

[@RichardEllaPhotography]

Thanks Alex. Another brilliant set of tutorials demystifying photoshop. I'm really enjoying these editing videos and what makes them unique is your explanation of why you decide on what changes to make and not just how to make. Most other photo editing tutorials I've seen just concentrate on the tools without explaining what to look for in a photo before you start editing.

[@alexnail]

Thanks Richard, my Mum was a teacher, maybe it’s rubbed off on me!

[@johnpunnett1426]

Excellent Vlog Alex - really enjoyed that & part 1. Looking forward to third installment... cheers...

[@alexnail]

That’s great John, that’s for commenting. Part 3 should be here on Friday :)

[@pradiptadattachaudhuri6457]

Awesome description of curves. Thank you Sir

[@alexnail]

My pleasure!

[@5sidedfistagon]

Once again, showing how great simple editing with masks is really all that is needed 99% of the time, thanks for the vid Al.

[@alexnail]

Yeah for that final polish curves are pretty much all you need!

[@matheusborcarte]

Just a really nice class! Thank you for all the knowledge shared!

[@mahdijangjo9655]

Fantastic 😍. Such a great attention to details! Wonderful

[@iansimpson888]

Thanks Alex, i've learned so much from just watching a few of your videos. The biggest complement I can give you is to say that I now feel i have wasted thousands of hours editing my previous images in a very uneconomical way. Cheers, keep up the plain speaking and clear, practical examples and explanations :-)

[@alexnail]

That's great to hear Ian (sort of!). Sorry that I made you feel like you wasted your time!

[@NicolasAlexanderOtto]

So far this series may not have given me any new insights, but I have to say that you are explaining in a very consistent and intelligible way. Great and very educational video!

[@alexnail]

Thanks Alex - yeah I wouldn’t really expect to teach you anything new, you’ve been around the block! But glad you think they are clear :)

[@NicolasAlexanderOtto]

@@alexnail I must say though I am looking forward to the 4th one. Guess you might have the odd trick up your sleeve that I dont yet know.

[@alexnail]

@@NicolasAlexanderOtto the reason I’m keeping it separate is I want to discuss all three methods I’m aware of and compare them. Next video is editing a volcano photo though!

[@NicolasAlexanderOtto]

@@alexnail I wasn't aware that you shot a volcano once. And it is not April 1st anymore. But interested to see what you've made of it.

[@glensumner3425]

Like the mixing two curve layers luminosity and normal that’s something that I will be doing in the future Cheers Alex. (Fantastic image btw!)

[@alexnail]

Yeah there’s probably a cleaner way to do it but it works for me!

[@haraldselke]

Yup, I had never thought of that before. Also, the dithering with noise was new to me. Thanks!

[@richardwood6121]

Thanks Alex. Curves and masking just doesn't seem quite as complicated anymore.

[@alexnail]

Excellent, mission accomplished!

[@TJ_ONLY]

It’s interesting to see how someone with a different personality type approaches their images. Another great video, Alex!

[@alexnail]

Even if that personality type is ‘sociopath’ :P thanks TJ!

[@timscanlanphotography]

Hi Alex. Another string to my Photoshop bow ! Many thanks for sharing this excellent tutorial.

[@alexnail]

My pleasure Tim :)

[@CharlesParmar]

Awesome video Alex! Clearly Curves have the power to make your photos pop and you nailed it woth your explanation! I am going to save these and watch them over and over again... to learn it and also apply it on my photos... thanks for sharing!

[@alexnail]

Awesome stuff, glad you found it so helpful :)

[@carlreid4161]

A great follow up to Pt1 Alex, this tool is so cool and powerful, going to have to practice though!

[@chblabah]

Very valuable tutorials, thanks a lot for doing this! I appreciate your videos as well as your photography!

[@joelwolski]

Another great video. Postprocessing is the part of photography I despise the most. There is almost no other area where I feel more incompetent. The act of capturing an image is often so intuitive to me I don't even realize why I'm pointing my camera a given direction. Postprocessing is so anti-intuitive that I get lost with what I'm trying to do. Focusing on one tool may be that thing that can help make post more intuitive for me.

[@alexnail]

Honestly if you don’t like post processing then just do all your edits in Lightroom, you can get 95% of the results for far less effort!

[@dlimayasserjosephstephen3548]

Thank you, you have enlightened me.

[@dominiclester3232]

Excellent thanks!

[@tobiasschmidt6518]

Hey Alex! Thanks again for another strong tutorial video. I thought I already know „everything“ about curves but I was wrong. Very well explaint. I’ve saved it to watch it again later. It makes me want to try and apply my new skill right away. If I only could go and get some fresh landscape photos... Cheers! Tobias

[@alexnail]

That’s great Tobias - yeah and I completely sympathise with not getting any new photos!

[@RewDowns]

Subbed after the dithering tip 👍

[@shivajireddy5959]

Thanks for this!

[@davederry236]

I've looked and can't seem to find any Fotospeed Platinum Cotton 305 paper. Can you help or suggest an alternative? I've been binge watching your youtube series. Your eye and understanding of the art of post has me fascinated. I love that you get right to the point, make no apologies for skipping over some of the edits leading to the point of that particular video. I would ask if you're still using Fotospeed Platinum Cotton 305 for your prints and where I might purchase some as I can't seem to find any online.

[@alexnail]

Hi Dave I don’t actually know where you live but outside the UK it might be tricky! Really the paper is quite similar to the likes of Hahnemuhle Photorag. I’m sure the like of Canson will have an equivalent too. These top end papers ultimately produce very similar results being made from the same materials essentially! Really glad you like the videos!

[@kristensmith9029]

Thank you so much for all your tips. I’m curious to know if you still use photoshop to handle the curves since Lightroom has updated enough to accomplish masked curves as well?

[@alexnail]

yes I do, but less and less. Obviously all of this applies just the same in Lightroom, but there is still more precision to how you can apply masks in Photoshop, so I prefer to work there when doing final changes. I plan to update my lightroom editing video at some point to cover this

[@NigelDownes-fi2pk]

Thanks Alex, another quality video. Do you use your raw editor for any histogram related adjustments, or do it all in PS?

[@alexnail]

Hi Nigel, are you asking if I use the curves tool in Lightroom? If so then yes, occasionally I’ll set white points and black points, but rarely more. Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@NigelDownes-fi2pk]

@@alexnail Hi Alex, no, sorry, I meant the Canon software.

[@alexnail]

@@NigelDownes-fi2pk I don’t use the canon software, I just edit straight from Lightroom :)