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Curves
is a very useful feature and function
in Photoshop. Mostly used on photos
by photographers. Curves can fix bad
contrasts, too light highlights, details
gotten lost in shading and much more.
When i paint skin tones i found it very
useful to use curves. Sometimes i get
the color balance wrong and i have to
much midtones everywhere. Using curves
usually fixes this.
The
Keyboard shortcut for Curves is CTRL
+ M.
This will open a Curves window, and
the settings you apply here will only
affect the current layer. But if you
want some insurrance you can add an
"Adjustment Layer". You add
such in the "Layer" menu,
under "New Adjustment Layer".
This will create a layer with your Curves
settings. You can later delete this
layer, change opacity or blending mode.
You can even paint with black on this
layer making everything that is black
to not be affected by the curves.
Note: It can sometimes
be sufficient to just press the "Auto"
button.
Tip
004 - Don't undo faulty brushstrokes
If you are painting a sketch or an
outline where you for example needs
to draw a line. But you don't manage
to get it correct... Don't erase or
undo your faulty brushstrokes (apply
this only if you are painting on a
transparent background). Instead have
the faulty stroke visible and draw
the new on top over the old one. Then
you can more easily avoid doing the
same mistake again.
When you have a correct brushstroke,
use the eraser tool to remove the
faulty one. If you are used to layers,
why not draw the new stroke on a seperate
layer. Then it's just to remove the
other layer.
Fixing
midtones in shadows.
Here is a work in progress, I'm painting
a portrait of my sister. This is far
from done, but here i had to use Curves
to fix the midtones. I had pretty much
nailed the values in it. But i had to
much "red" in my shadows.
Using Curves i managed to fix the most
problems. (I know that i have added
some hair in the after painting).
Click
on either the Before or After painting
too see full view version.
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