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Robert Ades1
Participating Frequently
October 14, 2012
Question

Tone Curve vs. Basic Panel (LR 4.2)

  • October 14, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 25503 views

I'm using LR 4.2 in a Windows 7 environment.

I'm trying to gain a deeper understanding how the four tonal sliders in the Tone Curve (Highlights, Lights, Darks, Shadows) compare or correspond to the four tonal sliders in the Basic Panel (Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks) in terms of their impact on the image. 

How do these relate, how do their differ?  They seem to do sort of the same thing, but not quite. 

Can anyone help me understand this better, or point me to a tutorial that does?

Thank you,
Robert Ades

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    2 replies

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    October 14, 2012

    Might want to start by viewing this excellent free video:

    http://mulita.com/blog/?p=3945

    Then George goes into exhustive detail about ALL the sliders and options using PV2012 (and more)

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    R
    Robert Ades1Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 15, 2012

    I actually have George Jardine's Develop series as well as the link above, which I have just gone back a re-watched.  It was these tutorials that got me all confused in the first place.  Here's why...

    In this tutorial, http://mulita.com/blog/?p=3945, right at minute 15, he talks about the highlight control.  Move the slider to the left  and you increase edge definition or enhancement.  But move it to the right and you increase contrast.  These sound like the same thing.  Because I associate edge definition wth clarity, I don't see how they're different.  Further, I don't really understand (actually I don't understand at all) why moving the highlight control to the left has any effect at all on edge defintion.

    areohbee
    areohbee
    Legend
    October 15, 2012

    I haven't seen the video, but:

    moving the highlight slider to the left will generally recover highlights and increase definition / detail in the highlights.

    moving the highlight slider to the right will brighten highlights giving more separation between highlights and shadows, thus more "contrast".

    Personally, I find it dangerous to think of the highlight slider being used for contrast, since there is a contrast slider for that.

    I think of it thusly:

    * contrast slider's main objective is to separate midtones (positive values). brightening and compressing highlights, and darkening and compressing shadows is a side effect.

    * highlight slider's main objective is to recover highlights (negative values), and de-brighten them.

    So, to increase midtone contrast, yet *not* brighten and compress highlights nor darken and compress shadows, it's:

    +contrast -highlights +shadows

    I'm sure other people think of it differently, but definitely one of the tricky aspects of PV2012 is knowing what to do with contrast vs. highlights & shadows.

    Cheers,

    Rob

      areohbee
      areohbee
      Legend
      October 14, 2012

      Unlike the tone curve, the basic sliders are backed by some intelligence, and it's possible to increase contrast in one region without a corresponding loss in contrast in another.

      Best results are had by getting as close as possible using the basic sliders, then use the tone curve to fine tune if need be.

      Rob

        R
        Robert Ades1Author
        Participating Frequently
        October 14, 2012

        Thanks for the reply. 

        I think I understand the Tone Curve better than the basic sliders because I can see how the adjustments affect the curve.  With the basic sliders, the chnages to the curve aren't shown -- reading contrast using just the histogram is more difficult.  How do you judge changes in contrast using just the basic sliders?

        Also, what do "whites" and "blacks" in the basic sliders correspond to in the tone curve?

        areohbee
        areohbee
        Legend
        October 14, 2012

        Whites & blacks correspond closest to moving the clipping points via the point curve (not the parametric tone curve). But, if I were you I would shy away from trying to draw too close a correspondence between basics and tone curve, and instead just learn to use the basic sliders by trial and error in conjunction with whatever learning aids you can find, including auto-tone (which goofs exposure but you can learn from what it does to the other sliders (in addition to exposure, you may also need to tweak blacks, and maybe even some of the rest...).

        For example, the behavior of exposure changes when it starts to get very bright, and contrast is tied to exposure, and which tones are highlights and which shadows vary from photo to photo, and depend on exposure. Also, blacks & whites are ostensibly for defining the clipping points, but should not be used first, and have very different behaviors depending on which direction you pull them and the dynamic range of the photo...

        PV2012 basics really rock, but can be tricky to learn - hang tough and enjoy...

        More tips here:

        http://forums.adobe.com/thread/968940?tstart=0

        http://forums.adobe.com/message/4259091#4259091

        Rob

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