by
genevh » Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:31 pm
Kimi:
I came real close to deleting that post. After I did it I got to thinking this thread was dealing with making corrections in PSE, not LR and that maybe I should have kept it to myself. But it was the first time I'd tried the skin softener brush in LR2 and I was really pleased with the results. Heck....it even makes me look better!
Anyway, here are the settings I used in the Tone Curve section in LR2's Develop Module for that picture:
- ToneCurve.jpg (41.92 KiB) Viewed 783 times
If you've ever played with those settings in LR2 you've probably noticed that it can make a dramatic difference in the coloring (tone) of a picture. The more you "push" the settings in either direction, the bigger the change you can effect. Some of the presets we use in LR2 include some pretty heavy adjustments in this module.
Adjustments made here are also totally subjective. It depends on the effect within the photo you are trying to achieve. By pushing the sliders to the right, you are essentially brightening the particular adjustment, although this isn't the same type of brightening that the brightness slider adjustment makes. Pushing the sliders to the left tends to darken the attribute you are adjusting. The point curve sets the starting point. Linear is just as the picture comes from the camera, or you can set it for Medium Contrast or Strong Contrast. Again, these settings depend on what you are trying to achieve with the picture.
The only real recommendation I can make here is to play with it and see what each slider does to the picture you are working on. This will give you a general feel for this module as you learn how each one can impact your photo.
The recommendation for working on photos in general is to start at the top of the Develop Module and get the WB, Exposure section, Brightness, and Presence set, working your way down the tool set. That is the workflow that I use and don't mess with the Tone Curve settings until I have done that part. And I find myself needing to be a bit more careful making the Tone Curve adjustments as I have started falling into the habit a bit of over correcting and having to back off my settings.
And this is one of the few pictures I set the Point Curve to Linear on.