Curves are back. No, it ain’t about the Volkswagen Beetle, but it’s about Photoshop Photoshop, when compared to other image editing tools, is the ultimate of all. In fact, you can call it the King of image editing/processing. Photoshop is bundled with lot of features and tools which are explored and unexplored, known and unknown; I’m sure most of you wouldn’t be aware of all the tools and features in Photoshop unless you’re the developer or an hardcore photoshop’er.

Adjustment Tool consist of various tools – Brightness/Contrast, Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Color Balance, Exposure etc, with which you can process your images better. If you’d left me with no choice but to choose one tool out all, then I would certainly select Curves, without any effort.

Below is an example of before and after tuning my shot using curves.

Note: Create a new fill or Adjustment layer before using the adjustment tools (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves Or at the bottom of the Layers panel). That way, it enables quick alteration or removal at any time during the color correction process.

So, what does Curves offer you?
The curve tool is one such tool that helps you tune your images and intensify the mood, though you think you’ve taken pretty neat shots, but needs a little adjustment to make it look even better. Curves allow you to adjust the color and tonality (contrast) by changing the shape of the curve. The upper section of the curve represents the area of lower contrast and the lower section represents the area of higher contrast. Dragging the curve upwards/downwards it lightens or darkens the image respectively.

Curves can be used on individual color channels by selecting the color from the drop-down menu. We can selectively increase or decrease the amount of a color cast in the red, green, and blue channels to achieve perfect balance.