Photoshop Curves - Pt.3 Mastering the Color Curves - The curves tool for Landscape Photographers.

The color curves in Photoshop allow you to take even more control over your images. In this video I explain what the red, green and blue color curves are and how they can be used. I finish with an example showing how curves can be used to cut through atmospheric haze.
This is the third and final part of a three part series on the Curves Tool in Photoshop. In the first part I talked about the tone curve and explained it in some detail. In the second part I talk about using Layer Masks to apply curves locally.
00:00 Introduction
02:52 Understanding Color Channels
05:35 The Color Curves
08:28 Color Manipulation example
11:23 Removing Color/Light Casts
15:17 Haze reduction with curves
Curves Part 1: • Photoshop Curves - Pt....
Curves Part 2: • Photoshop Curves - Pt....
Website: www.alexnail.com/​
Workshops: www.alexnail.com/workshops/
Workshop Mailing List: tinyurl.com/4m3y3syk​

[@kemerthomson]

Understanding how a tool works is not the same thing as appreciating how it can be effectively used. This series made me appreciate the curve, especially in conjunction with the color (or “colour”) channels. As one commenter said, this will have a huge impact on my workflow.

[@nickwebster3633]

Alex, These three Curves videos provide an excellent combination of both principle and practice for this powerful tool. Many thanks, Nick

[@Stillfilm1]

Your tutorials and especially these 3 curves videos are by far the best I've ever seen. Thank you so much for posting these.

[@davidlevine3288]

Excellent series on the use of curves Alex; the best I've seen on KZbin. Your presentation is very well organized and detailed. The overall workflow you demonstrate has already made improvements on my own. All of your image editing recordings have been very instructive and useful to me. Thanks for all of your hard work I truly appreciate it.

[@cliffordmcfarlane9008]

You have demonstrated to me how the use of the curve tool is powerful and you've enabled me to change my post processing to be realistic and artistic. Thank you! Looking forward to your next video.

[@alexnail]

That's awesome Clifford, I'm glad you've found these videos helpful!

[@larrywales358]

Alex, Thank you in detail explaining the power of curves. I have learned how these adjustments will help me with color in my photography.

[@maximolange4409]

Alex, I just went through the 3 curve videos and this will completely change my entire workflow. Thank you for opening my eyes to trying to use simplicity in the editing process as well as in the final look of the image. These videos are excellent quality and definitely one of a kind in youtube. Thanks!

[@alanpinn2266]

What a terrific 3 part series Alex! You've made this so much easier to understand. I'll be taking a slightly different approach to editing now and using the Curves adjustment layers to their full potential. Keep up the great work and vlogs!

[@pietermoolman8087]

Thanks Alex. I watched al three tutorials and they now form part of my valued learning tools. Your tutorials have enabled me to change my approach to ohoto editing and I am so much more satisfied with the natural look of the finished product.

[@alexnail]

That’s awesome Pieter - I’m really glad you’ve found these so helpful!

[@PaulMarshall]

Appreciate the insight into how to be specific and subtle with curves

[@alexnail]

My pleasure :)

[@christheking1]

Do you know how you watch other tutorials and always feel like its being rushed, half explained and some of the "trade secrets" are kept from you? well not with Alex. thorough, detailed, straight to the point. it actually makes you feel like the secrets are being revealed. well done and thank you so much. this 3 video series on Curves was very insightful.

[@alexnail]

Thanks so much Custo!

[@andrewwills9861]

Excellent explanation of the use of colour curves. Very useful, thank you.

[@pradiptadattachaudhuri6457]

Awesome demonstration. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your curves video. So plz share those tips & tricks to improve our skill. Thank you very much.

[@alexnail]

My pleasure Pradipta

[@J5388T]

Alex, Thanks for what is an excellent set of tutorials using the curves adjustment layer in PS. Whilst I'm already familiar with using the curves adjustment layer, I still picked up a handful of very useful tips from these video's and when I'm next asked to explain how to use the curves tool, I'll point people in the direction of your tutorials!

[@deryckstorey1465]

Once again I have learnt an awful lot from your vlogs. Each one of your instructional vlogs have now been saved by me to keep looking back at. They have certainly made me look back at the previous editing of my photos! Knowing the right tools to use can simplify getting to the final result. I'm looking forward to your next vlog on lens flare. Thank you again for the all time you take in producing these vlogs, they are much appreciated.

[@alexnail]

Awesome Deryck that’s great to hear!

[@12stockweb]

Amazing tutorial!!! Well explained without all the fluff. Great job!!!

[@alexnail]

Thanks so much Brie!

[@richardwood6121]

Thanks for another interesting and illuminating video Alex. My photography map used to say "here be monsters" against individual channel curves so really appreciate you opening up that area so to speak. Another great addition to your superb series of editing videos. Excellent image from an interesting perspective too, had me reaching for my OS Landrager 19. It's just a 3 hour drive for me before the hiking starts.

[@alexnail]

Thanks Richard! Yeah it’s a cool location, a little awkward to get to but worth the effort!

[@dominiclester3232]

Nice thanks! Part 2 was my favourite btw.

[@PhilippLutz]

Very good series Alex, thanks a bunch for revisiting the curves tool, which I hardly use these days, but will seriously reconsider for colour corrections after watching this video ;)

[@NigelDownes-fi2pk]

Hi Alex, Thanks, three very useful videos.

[@alexnail]

Well done for getting through all three! Looking forward to talking about something new next week!

[@michaelpfister3572]

Great tutorials on those curve-tools. Really appreciate your effort to make these videos, they do help me a lot and stand out of the bunch quite significantly. I am sort of binge-watching your channel currently :o)

[@elmdcw]

Best curves video tutorials I have seen. It was just at the right level. Thanks Alex. I look forward to the next. It will be interesting to know if this technique is useful for removing hotspots in infrared.

[@alexnail]

Thanks a lot that’s very kind. I’ve never shot infra red but I imagine the answer is yes!

[@bobmcdonald4834]

Superb video on a complicated topic. Thanks very much 👍

[@johnpunnett1426]

Really good Alex - really helped bring Parts 1 & 2 all together... nice one & thank you. John

[@alexnail]

My pleasure John, Glad you enjoyed them!

[@Xo1ot1]

Very useful, thank you. I just went back to a few of my photos and removed color casts and they look much better now :)

[@alexnail]

Great to hear it's been helpful! It's certainly best to remove colour casts at source with White Balance in Lightroom. I have some in depth videos on white balance :)

[@larretube]

Wow! Thank you so much Alex, for incredibly informative videos. Will go from using only Lightroom to also include Photoshop in the editing after I found your channel. Inspiring and educational!

[@alexnail]

Thanks Eyvind, really glad you found it helpful. Just remember that the RAW converter is still where you want to do most things and mastering that aspect first is definitely the best approach!

[@Flyers8810]

Great video! Your curves series has really helped me. I found your channel after watching your interview with Dave Morrow and really like your content. Thank you and look forward to seeing your future videos.

[@alexnail]

No worries, glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the comment

[@carlreid4161]

The description of your workflow for the Loch Maree image edit was first class Alex, and how subtle you have to be to remove haze, even though there’s a dedicated tool nowadays it’s great to understand the principle and how important the colour wheel is. A great series on a tool that I feel your videos will help me master.

[@paulbruins9935]

Thanks Alex.

[@alexnail]

My pleasure Paul, I hope you are keeping well!

[@howardrankin7119]

Superb - clear, logical and practical. Keep em coming

[@alexnail]

Thanks Howard, I guess that’s the engineer in me!

[@hillwalker66]

Excellent video Alex, explained in a clear, concise way. Can see how this technique can help to remove flare and clean up sun stars. Looking forward to the next video.

[@alexnail]

That’s great Daron. The beauty of understanding these tools is that you can figure out how to actually employ them yourself. It’s much better than learning multiple step processes!

[@alanmorton1370]

Hi Alex. Another great series of videos. I must admit you had me worried where you were going in the first half - some of the adjustments made the image look like those I see in some of my old books where the reproduction hasn't quite been up to scratch - however I was pleased to see this was just demonstration. Phew! As you were talking I thought it would be great to ask you to show us how to deal with lens flare but now I don't have to. I'm particularly looking forward to that one. I can only echo Richard Wood's comments below. Thank you again for lifting the veil on some quite difficult concepts.

[@alexnail]

Ha yeah, one of the problems with illustrating how these tools work is you sometimes have to do things you wouldn’t usually do to illustrate the point!

[@dlimayasserjosephstephen3548]

Thank you for those tutorials, they surely increased my understanding color curves and how to use them. You are an excellent teacher.

[@alexnail]

My pleasure, glad you found them helpful!

[@robertberg3944]

Excellent coverage of curves!

[@alexnail]

Thanks Robert!

[@glenntunaley1639]

Thank you so much Alex! This series has given me a much better understanding of what curves does. I just edited one of my photos using these techniques and I'm really happy with how it turned out. This is going to change my whole workflow.

[@CharlesParmar]

I loved the 3 curves videos. They are a complete lesson and a very powerfull one! Thank you so much for your efforts, I really appreciate it and am a big fan of your work and methods!

[@alexnail]

Thanks Charles - I really appreciate that! It’s a shame that KZbin isn’t really well suited for this kind of teaching. I think if my goal is grow the channel I should have called this video ‘reducing haze’ or similar to play the KZbin game! Still it’s nice that this series is here and I can refer people to it because curves really is a very useful tool !

[@CharlesParmar]

@@alexnail You must do some workshops ... I’d love to join... something like an end to end... capture + edits and to some good location like scotland!

[@alexnail]

@@CharlesParmar I’ve been running workshops in Scotland for 7 years now. This year I’m running them in May and October and you can book me for 1-to-1s as well. Check out my website, alexnail.com

[@CharlesParmar]

@@alexnail wow I will defo book!

[@alexnail]

@@CharlesParmar awesome thanks!

[@doughunwick766]

great explanation although I use Affinity Photo it has allowed me to understand colour curves more thank you

[@alexnail]

Yeah the great thing about curves is they are fairly universal across all image and video editing programs :)

[@StephenBridgett]

Absolutely brilliant!

[@norrinRadd026]

Great job on the series Alex. I subscribed.

[@adamcoughtrey5851]

Thoroughly enjoyed the last 3 curves video's... Will help me out no end Alex..thanks so much 🙌

[@alexnail]

No problem Adam!

[@johnchambers6272]

Thank you for this interesting video showing how to remove a colour cast from an image and a great way to deal with haze. I have really enjoyed all 3 videos you have created on the Curves adjustment, your effort is much appreciated. Being a Canon user looking forward to your next video on lens flare.

[@alexnail]

Thanks John - the curves tool is so useful for really detailed edits that I thought it was worth spending plenty of time on!

[@claudehamel9228]

Excellent and very useful!

[@alexnail]

Glad it was helpful Claude

[@DavidEllis-zk2zp]

great videos! Thanks!

[@slowtrain162]

Verkar very good, I have learnt a lot, ,Thanks

[@andychattaway5620]

Brilliant - 👍👍 👍

[@jasonmordecai8212]

Excellently explained. I’ve found using frequency separation to get rid of unwanted lens flare works a treat. Because you can just remove the colour and add texture back into the area

[@alexnail]

Yes the frequency separation method also works well although it has some downsides, namely that you can lose colour detail, which might or might not be a problem, and you also have to learn a new process. The great thing about understanding curves is once you know what they can do it’s almost the case that “the sky is the limit”

[@jasonmordecai8212]

@@alexnail looking forward to your video you mentioned covering the lens flare method I’d like to see how you approach it. Curves is all I use too I levels don’t have have the flexibility

[@thomastuorto9929]

Nice. I'll have to go back & watch the first 2 again & play with a couple of my photos switching back & forth between these lessons &. You could see the clouds go back a little whiter when you adjusted the green. I'm guessing this is what the dehaze tool does?

[@alexnail]

The dehaze tool is OK at haze reduction but not as good as carefully using the curves. It’s an intelligent tool, but not as intelligent as a person!

[@thomastuorto9929]

@@alexnail I agree. I don’t have it in LR. I’m still using LR6 & AP. Haven’t tried any in AP. Using Topaz DN. Saves time but there have been a couple of time I have done better in LR. Since then Topaz has done at least 3 updates. I just downloaded their latest upgrade but have not used yet. I need to try using AP to see how it does. Thanks for the vid.

[@andrewfindlayphoto]

Great clear video again Alex 😃 Are you going to do a CMYK video next? Just kidding I wouldn't go there 🤣

[@alexnail]

Fortunately CYMK is not something many photographers have to worry about!

[@p1pepper]

Would an action panel not make these same processes simpler ?

[@alexnail]

Not for me personally. It’s very quick indeed to make this adjustment. 30 seconds maybe