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- <h2>Curves Adjustment</h2>
- <p><img align="right" src="Images\CurvesNull.png" />The Curves adjustment
- can be used to adjust the colors of an image with a very high degree of
- control. Curves allows you to fine tune the intensity of every shade in an
- image. In particular, it can be used to highlight or dim only certain ranges
- of intensity present in an image in a way that <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a>
- and
- <a href="AdjustmentsMenu.html">Brightness / Contrast</a> cannot.</p>
- <p>Unlike <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> and <a href="AdjustmentsMenu.html">
- Brightness / Contrast</a>, Curves can be used to freely adjust the exactly
- how bright each shade of intensity in an image can be. In fact, the colors
- of an image can be completely inverted using curves.</p>
- <h3><a name="Interface"></a>Interface</h3>
- <p>Curves lets you remaps the colors of and image using control points on a
- graph, as shown on the right and in the examples below. When the Curves
- dialog first appears, it will have the graph shown on the right. This graph
- is simply a function in the mathematical sense. The horizontal values are
- the intensity input, and the vertical values are the intensity output.</p>
- <p>Simply, this means that reshaping the right half of the curve effects the
- brighter half of the image, reshaping the left half effects the darker half
- of and image. Moving a curve above its default position on the diagonal
- guide line will cause the affected areas to brighten, moving a curve below
- its default position on the diagonal guide line will cause affected areas to
- darken.</p>
- <p>Control points are used to affect the curve. Control points are added by
- clicking anywhere that there is not currently a control point. Control
- points may be removed by right-clicking on the desired control point. To
- move a control point, simple click and drag the control point to the desired
- new location. Note that it is not possible to have two control points
- vertically in line with each other, as this would mean that a given
- intensity of color would be both brightened and darkened (which isn't
- possible).</p>
- <p>Below is an example of using Curves to adjust an image. The original
- image is shown on the left, and the image adjusted with Curves is shown on
- the right. The curve drawn in the Curves adjustment shows that the darker
- shades of the image should be darkened and the lighter shades should be
- lightened. The result is a picture that has deeper darks and bolder brights,
- while still preserving all the definition of the original image. </p>
- <p align="center"><img src="Images/CurvesLuminosity.png"></p>
- <p align="center">
- <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleLuminosity.jpg"></p>
- <h3><a name="MultichannelAdjustments"></a>Multichannel Adjustments</h3>
- <p>By default, Curves uses the luminosity of an image to adjust the
- intensities. Alternatively, this can be performed using the Red, Green, and
- Blue channels of an image by selecting "RGB" from the drop down list near
- the top of the dialog box.<br>
- <br>
- When this mode is selected, new control points will apply to the color
- channels selected with the checkboxes near the bottom of the dialog. To work
- with an individual channel or pair of channels, simple change which channels
- are selected using the checkboxes.</p>
- <p>The picture below has been adjusted with Curves to increase the contrast
- and saturation of the image, and to specifically compensate for the already
- saturated portions of the dog's fur by lowering the intensity of some of the
- brighter reds. Note that the image has bolder colors, deeper dark areas, and
- does not appear as grey as the original.</p>
- <p align="center"><img src="Images/CurvesRGB.png"></p>
- <p align="center"><img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleRGB.jpg"></p>
- <h3><a name="OtherPossibilities"></a>Other Possibilities</h3>
- <p>As stated above, you can even use Curves to invert an image. In the
- example below, a picture of a car was adjusted using Curves to produce a
- result that is not possible with the other adjustments, such as
- <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> or Hue / Saturation:</p>
- <p align="center"><img src="Images/CurvesExtreme.png"></p>
- <p align="center">
- <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWExtreme.jpg"></p>
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- <font color="#808080" size="1">Copyright <font face="Times New Roman">© 2007 </font>
- Rick Brewster, Tom Jackson, and past contributors. Portions Copyright
- <font face="Times New Roman">© 2007 </font>Microsoft Corporation. All Rights
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