I made a mistake a 1.47 and said the light tones were on the left. Just a brain melt and obviously dark tones are on the left of the curve as explained in rest of the video. Thanks for watching everyone…. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I think I'm at the point with my photography where I need to fully understand curves. I never knew you could do all this, and I don't even know if I can assess my photos deeply enough to use these skills. I feel like you've just shown me a whole new world.
That is exactly what I was just thinking. Can I see into my photos enough to think about these subtle changes that are possible and to know when to apply them. Hey Nigel, maybe you could use some of your viewers photos to go through this.
I know that's it's a month since you did this blog, but I was using the Lightroom Denoise feature tonight on some photos I shot in poor lighting using my Nikon Z8 and the Nikkor Z 24-120mm f4 lens, indoors and no flash. I was blown away by the way an image that I really wanted to save, but was quite grainy, Lightroom allowed me to recover so much detail. I love it!
Thanks again, Nigel. You've explained the curves/mask tool(s) so clearly. I understand the impact on colours and tones so much better now. Thanks again.
Great video, Nigel! I started more and more to use this tool (with or without masks) in Lightroom, and it is awesome. Maybe is worth to say that the Tone Curve improve also the Vibrance. I found it very useful to create contrast, better than the classical Contrast slider in Basic adjustments panel.
That is truly impressive what you can do with curves in masks ! As a lot of people, I’ve always been a little bit intimidated by curves… 😅 But now that I see the true potential hidden in that tool, I will definitely give it a try !
This is really nice control, thanks for detailing it. Hey I really love the natural and passionate way you share new stuff like this, it is good to watch people getting excited while sharing and not just some serious forced script or tryng to be funny, it makes such a big difference when watching.
We Capture One users have had the ability to apply curves to masks for many years. Nice to see that LR is starting catch up. (In Capture One you can also apply curves to masks affecting luminosity only without affecting saturation, too, which you still can't do with the LR curves, as far as I can tell.)
In CaptureOne (as you know) you can use any tool with masks. I'm starting to dabble a bit in Lr and I'm amazed that these functions are not available!!
I just realised how little I know about Lightroom, having comfortably used photoshop for many years in my image adjustments. Thank you for a brilliant explanation of the Lightroom Curves and how to use it, within Lightroom, with gradients and other useful tools. Wow, so much useful info here Nigel, many thanks for sharing. I am going to rewatch this, to take it a all in! Look forward to seeing your results with your new camera!
Nigel,excellent video on the curve tool! I didn’t realize it, but I guess less is more when it comes to that tool. Thank you! BTW You have a striking resemblance to New York Yankees pitcher, Gerrit Cole. Happy Sunday!
The Tone curve is one of the most complicated tools to master, I feel. This update adds a other dimension on that but it allows to so much fine grained control. Thanks for explain it so so well, Nigel. PS Looking forward to your next weekend’s video about the Z8. Enjoy!
I'm still coming to grips with use of the tone curve. I've used it sparingly in the past without really knowing what I was doing. I started watching this and took your recommendation to firstly review your presentation from 2020 on introduction to tone curves. I'm so glad I did! Your explanations in both video were fantastic. Thanks again Nigel.
Nigel, this was a SUPER Helpful video. Even though I've been processing my photos for years, I often neglect using the tones curve...but I can really see the value of this tool especially when combined with Masks...so Powerful! Thanks again and have a great trip to Greenland...can't wait to see your photos/videos.
This is an awesome video! I was avoiding curves, as they were not in masks and applying it to the entire image never felt right. Thanks Nigel for such a detailed explanation and tips. Will definitely use it now 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you for this video. Great, clear explanation of how to combine curves and masking. I’ve really failed to use curves in Lightroom in general, probably because when I have in the past I’ve been a bit too heavy handed. Your video points toward a more targeted approach. Time to try again. Thanks, Nigel.
Nice explanation Nigel, i've been using it for the last week. One less thing to have to swap to Photoshop for but Photoshop still holds a candle for spot removal and more advance removal (not including the beta version with AI generative fill)
Yes, for me as well that is now the main reason to use phothoshop.. either some complex removal where i need more control or I i want more control in stitching panoramas.. Or if i need focus stacking.. but the rest to me is now perfectly feasible in lightroom
Nigel as always a superb video, I am visiting the outer Hebrides in a weeks time (6 islands ) and this video has helped me so much thank you keep uptime fantastic work.
This is awesome - love getting these super nuanced tips and processes for LR! You have a great eye to pick these micro-adjustments out from seeing the image.
Dear Nigel, Thank you for this very helpful video. Could you maybe explain a bit more about why you change certain things in your photo’s, or is that just something that grows with experience?
Thanks for this Nigel, I’ve been trying to understand this for a while and this has really cemented my understanding and given some ideas for how I might use it in the future. Got some shots from the Lake District thins weekend that I cannot wait to try some of these ideas on!
Thank you for all these curve tips. It's such a powerful tool, but unfortunately I've never really used it at its full potential. I need to test that more! When I see how fast Lightroom is evolving lately, I wonder if adding HSL to masks wouldn't be one of their next moves!
Hey Nigel. I decided to spend the early afternoon editing some recent photographs taken in the Lake District, and this involved trying to get to grips with the new curves facility in masks. I was bumbling along and decided to take a coffee break; this included checking today's video! Imagine my surprise (and delight) to discover that it was on this new curves tool! 😂 As ever your explanations are superb - clear, concise and with excellent examples. Coffee break over - I'm heading back into Lightroom and feeling far more confident. Thank you! Enjoy Greenland! 🥳
Curves is one of the things in LR that challenges me. I was not really aware you could use it with a mask so thanks for showing how it works. I need to become more comfortable with how to fully utilize curves.
Until recently I had not used Photoshop in years, lightroom had taken care of everything I needed and I have been incredibly happy and satisfied with it. But recently I have been shooting infrared which benefits from a colour channel swap and I've also been developing and scanning film, and I needed to use Photoshop and grain2pixel to convert the negatives. What I was reminded of is how much better Photoshop is when it comes to editing an image or picture. It annoyed me a little because when using lightroom again I'm just reminded of how much better Photoshop is for most things, even things like spot healing for dust removal. For organisation, printing, and streamlined work flow lightroom is great. but now I feel like it's still better to have both.
Nice. I'm an intensive user of luminosity masks with PS. When using curves for the skies it is needed to take care with contrast oversaturation of the sky. In PS blending changed to luminosity helps. In lightroom I guess reducing saturation after the curve might be a good practice
I agree. Also there is a lot in the PS curves panel - alt click the auto button. Take out colour casts using per channel contrast , etc. And as you rightly say, you don't have the power of blend modes in LR, which makes PS so much more powerful.
@@meyrickgriffith-jones3908 you are both right though I feel with this update Photoshop is a lot less necessary on my workflow.. I mean, you might need an extra passage to adjust saturation or correct colour casts manually but still there is nothing you really can't do now on the matter of luminosity and tones.. If i can avoid passing through Photoshop that will make my workflow faster and lighter on the drive since i won't need psd files except for some specific cases ecc..
I recently started using curves and wow, what an eye opener. I noticed some slight differences in the way your Lightroom appears vs mine. Do you have the Classic? I apologize if you already covered this in previous videos.
Nice video and explanation. I wish I had the patience...not only does it require a huge investment of time, but I kind of hate the tone curve because it's so fiddly. If I'm trying things out, I can never get back to a setting I really liked because both X and Y axes are in motion, and that's for each point you set.
Thanks again for another great video. If you are adjusting the sky on an image that is also reflected in a body of water should you also adjust the reflection? What would be the best way to select that, maybe a brush mask or a color range?
I’ve definitely been asleep at the switch. I guess I was so distracted by all the AI hype in Photoshop that I missed this update entirely. Really useful. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
This "curves in masks" tool is now available in photoshop RAW. I take it they work the same way, and I can use it as it is used in Lightroom in this video? Many tanks yet again for your tutorials Nigel.
About the only BAD thing about the Z8 (for me, coming from a Z7 II, which I still own) is that I have to buy a new L-bracket and a grip. (The Grip and L-Bracket could be shared on my Z6 II and Z7 II, and the L-bracket itself I've had since 2020 and used on pretty much all Z FF cameras, but the Z8's tripod socket is in a different spot). In the end, the Z8 is more of a hybrid camera for those who want the improved AF and video (and something more similar to the D850, but modernized) and the Z7 II is pretty much a good option for everything else and/or perhaps where you don't need the 8k and/or auto focus improvements (such as if you only shoot landscape or portraiture). The Z7 II will remain my landscape camera (on paper the Z7 II also better at lower ISOs than the Z8 although it may not be noticeable in practice, but I'll take all the DR and color I can get for landscapes). I'd say if Adobe introduced layering into Lightroom and some of the spot removal functions then we could probably say that it may render Photoshop unneeded for many people. (Spot removal in Lightroom Classic, even with all the updates, is still a bit disappointing compared to what is in Photoshop, and I'm not talking about the new AI fill functions but just regular spot removal of smaller objects -- LR tends to smudge things up where as Photoshop does a better job, so until that's done, I don't think I'd give up PS just yet).
I don't know - press Alt + AUTO and see what else you get with Photoshops curves. LR has a long way to go yet before it is anything like as fast, flexible and powerful as PS. And of course this feature - selection and a curve has been available in PS for years. (with much better selection facilities)
Nigel, some great tips, many thanks. I see you are now using the Studio Display, can I ask if you feel this is a worthy monitor for serious photo editing? Kind Regards, John
I've been using curves with masks in PS for years, so I'm not quite sure what the difference is here. I do appreciate your videos. The catalog approach in LR drives me mad so I've been avoiding it.
Great video! I recently started using the tone curve within masks with amazing results. Yet, I’m still contemplating combining with photoshop + plug-in like TK8. Do you think that kind of workflow serves less of a purpose after Lightroom’s recent update? Can it still help some?
Great video thanks. Can you please tell me at 06:21 how you do to see the white areas which are impacted by the mask ? Which shortcut please ? Thanks a lot
A quick question: Have you done an "edit along" before? I.e. where you share an image and allow us to follow along with your edits. Also, I know you have done an "edit my photo" competition/event before, are you planning to do more of them?
Luminar Neo has masking with its curves tool. I wish someone who know both packages really well would compare it with Lightroom. Lightroom, with its subscription model is just too expensive for the occasional user.
I don't use Lightroom so I'm not sure, what is exactly the new feature here -- that a curves tool can be used on a layer, or that the shape of the mask itself can be affected by a curve (similar to luminance ranges for masks)?
Lightroom had the curves tool available for global adjustments but what is new is being able to use it within a mask. So after you create your mask, you can now edit within the mask with curves.
@@seanadowling3 Thanks for clarifying! I use CaptureOne and had this available for years and was not aware that in Lightroom this was not available, so hence I got confused when Nigel started talking about a new feature for curved and masks!
I hate PHOTOSHOP ... Hate might be a little bit excessive, but I do not like Photoshop because I could never get the colours right in the colours never look like now. I want them to look where as I use light room and the colours are exactly how I intended them to be from the camera to the raw image, and then to the process JPEG I get it spot on 100% of the time every single time without fail so that is why I would not use Photoshop, but the new features on Lightroom are fantastic and yes I fully agree that these curves are very useful for masking as well especially for a landscape photographer
I'm using Lightroom Classic 12.3 and try as I might, when I have a mask selected, then try adjusting curves it applies the curve changes to the entire image. What am I missing?
@@oneandonlyjaybee Ahhh, that's exaclty what I was doing, the curve adjustment in the mask section was collapsed and I completely missed it as a result. Thank you!
hello ,is there anyone has a issue about color shift problem after the update? whole my presets are unusable after the update.İf I attempt any change on the photo it directly ruins my whole image(original preset photo) .Please help same on iPhone Lightroom and Mac Lightroom ?
Photoshop curves have had masks since ... forever. (Curves for lightness and contrast and curves for color grading). In addition, curves in Photoshop can let your set and/or redefine your black, middle gray and white points with a click. Saying curves in Lightroom will make Photoshop obsolete seems a bit hyperbolic on steroids.
You are working in Lightroom Classic (LRC), not Lightroom (LR) and there are significant differences between these programs. It's not helpful that Adobe has named these two programs with similar names.
I don't see you doing anything that you can't do just as easily in Photoshop. Your mask appears to be a gradient mask. Those are pretty easy to create. PS masked areas can be manipulated as easily (PS>Image>Adjustments) and to the extent your examples were. Are you saying this new tool can unmask selected tones within the mask, making it, in essence, a variable strength mask? You didn't illustrate anything remotely close to make PS "obsolete"
There is nothing bad about Z8. It's crazy good camera. Only bad thing about is is that people aren't creative enough to take full advantage of that brilliant technology. All I see is tech talk and zero creativity. Except few channels like yours, Nigel.
This is still one of those "no one actually asked for this" features that Adobe keeps pumping into their software. People want HSL Sliders in masks. Done. This is close, but no cigar. Curves are just not user friendly enough for the Lightroom environment.
Come on you are better than such a clickbait title. No it is not a Photoshop killer and nothing in Lightroom ever will be. It isn't in Adobe's best interest.
