Curves, Levels, and Fall

This is the last day where I will cover image editing (I hope). I've found the process interesting and illuminating, and I think the changes I've made will help me with my productivity. The intent of this blog is to help me grow, and it's definitely done that.

On to Curves and Levels. I have to admit, I had no idea what either of them did. I'm still not an expert, of course, but I've gained some perspective. I loaded some fall pictures that I hadn't processed yet into my trial of Aperture 3. I then read the documentation about Levels and Curves.

I came to the conclusion that Levels is the way to go 90% of the time. Curves is best suited for pictures that need heavy editing, or have serious issues with shadows and highlights. And, frankly, the Auto settings for Levels were really all I needed, most of the time. Here are some examples of pictures taken on a cloudy day:



The issue with cloudy days is that although sun glare and harsh highlights are not an issue, the pictures tend to have low levels of contrast, and low levels of color. To me, the originals of these pictures looked faded, initially. I fixed all of them in Aperture (mainly using Levels - Curves didn't make a difference). They don't sparkle like some of my previous pictures, but that's the point - it's a nice change of pace. The originals, though, well, I wasn't a fan. :) I like these edits far better. The level of detail is terrific. I'm really pleased, if you couldn't tell. :)

The first and third ones benefited the most from Aperture, by the way. The last picture was almost brown, before I added red tones to it. The first one was very muted.

Also, note the placement of the watermarks - now, I don't need Elements to do this for me. Everything can be done within one tool. Admittedly, Photoshop is still the premiere tool, but it doesn't suit my strengths or lifestyle. I'm quite happy.

I don't know about you, but I want to cover something else for a change. :) I will do just that. Till tomorrow!