photographylife

AI-Free Since 2008

REVIEWS LEARN ABOUT US FORUM SEARCH

HOME → POST PROCESSING LEARN

• Beginner Photography
How to Use the Tone Curve Panel in Lightroom • Landscape Photography
• Wildlife Photography
BY ROMANAS NARYŠKIN | 16 COMMENTS
LAST UPDATED ON FEBRUARY 11, 2018 • Portraiture
• Post-Processing
• Advanced Tutorials
In this short tutorial I will show you how to use one of the easiest and most
powerful tools found in Lightroom – the Tone Curve. In my previous tutorial about
black & white conversions, I briefly showed you how to use the HSL Panel’s
Luminance section to control the lightness of separate colors of the image. Using VOTE
the Tone Curve Panel is very similar as it also allows you to control the lightness On Our Next Lens Reviews
and darkness of various parts of a given photograph, however, rather than
altering separate colors, the Tone Curve tool controls certain ranges of actual
tones in the image.

Table of Contents
1. What Is It?
2. Region Curve and Point Curve
3. The Easy Part
3.1. How To Make Your Image Pop
3.2. And If You Want Less… Click Here to Become
3.3. Don’t Overcook It A Photography Life Member
3.4. Experiment!

What Is It? REVIEWS

• Camera Reviews
The Tone Curve represents all the
• Lens Reviews
tones of your image. The bottom axis
• Other Gear Reviews
of the Tone Curve is the Tone axis: the • Best Cameras and Lenses
line starts with Shadows at the left-
PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIALS
most end and ends with Highlights in
the right-most end. In the middle you
have Midtones, which are then further
split into darker Midtones, called Darks
in Lightroom, and brighter Midtones, PHOTOGRAPHY LANDSCAPE
BASICS PHOTOGRAPHY
called Lights. In other words, going left
to right, the curve starts with Shadows,
Darks, Lights and ends with Highlights.
You can also see the corresponding
range shown to you by Lightroom once WILDLIFE MACRO
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY
you hover over a specific slider under
the Tone Curve, in the Region section
of the Panel. The Y axis represents
lightness of a given tones. The tones get darker as you move lower and brighter
as you move up the axis. COMPOSITION & BLACK & WHITE
CREATIVITY PHOTOGRAPHY

While all of this may sound very technical, it is in fact quite simple to adjust. All
you need to decide on is which range of tones you want to alter, for example: if
you want to make the Midtones of the image darker, just click on the middle
portion of the Tone Curve and gently drag it downwards – you will notice your NIGHT SKY PORTRAIT
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY
image getting darker as you drag it, similarly as it would if you were to decrease
Exposure in the Basic Panel. If, on the other hand, you wanted to make your
Shadows part of the image brighter, you should click on the left-most third of the
Tone Curve which represents the Shadows and gently drag it upwards to see
them brighten up. Simple, isn’t it? STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEOS

Region Curve and Point Curve

UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS
Lightroom has two different Curves you can work with. The one that I’ve been
showing you so far (the enlarged screenshot at the top) is the easiest to operate,
especially for beginners – lets call it the Region Curve for simplicity sake. When
you’re using this Curve, Lightroom basically helps you keep it as smooth in
transition as possible, so that you don’t ruin your image by accidentally distorting
the Curve too much. You can either adjust it by dragging the Curve itself or using
the sliders bellow it, which will give you exactly the same flexibility. You can also
adjust it using an automated Lighroom tool, which appears as a dot at the top left
of the Tone Curve Panel, right next to the Tone Curve. All you have to do is click
on it to turn the tool on and then click-and-drag on the particular tone range or
area of the image to adjust it. Even if you tried hard, however, you could not make
a, say, “N” shaped Curve using Region Curve simply because Lightroom is aiding
you by keeping a smooth tonal transition – a very useful feature, really, it saves
SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL
you from ending up with something like this:
If you like our content, you can subscribe to our
newsletter to receive weekly email updates using
the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

But then there is another Curve you can use if you do need to make adjustments
not possible with the Region Curve, and it is called Point Curve. You can activate
it by clicking a small square button at the bottom right of the Tone Curve Panel.
Once you do that, you will instantly notice sliders disappear only to be replaced
with one control – Channel. This setting allows you to choose which color – Red,
Green or Blue – you want to alter (the default is set to RGB, which includes all
colors). Changing individual colors opens up a whole new range of editing
possibilities, like simulation of film cross-processing (deliberately using wrong
chemicals to develop film and get crazy cool colors), but we won’t be getting into
that this time – that’s a whole new article. Lets leave the Channel setting at its
default RGB mode.

The idea of Point Curve is that you can alter it whichever way you like and make a
complete mess out of your image – Lightroom will not get in your way. It’s a great
tool for some advanced B&W and color work, but is also very useful when used
as a starting point to work with Region Curve afterwards, much like the tone
curve your camera uses when you take photographs. Lightroom actually allows
you to choose one of the default settings of the Point Curve to use as a starting
point – you can choose it by clicking on the drop-down list at the bottom left of
the Tone Curve panel in either Region Curve or Point Curve mode.

I plan to discuss the use of the Point Curve in greater detail in future tutorials as it
offers a complete new range of creative editing. For now, lets focus on the
simpler and more popular Range Curve (and simply call it Tone Curve further on
before it gets too confusing).

The Easy Part

As I have already mentioned, working with the Tone Curve is actually very easy.
Depending on what you want to achieve, there are basically only four things you
need to remember.

1) How To Make Your Image Pop

Most of the time, this is the primary intention

when using Tone Curve. Sometimes you may
find that, after you’re done with the Basic
Panel adjustments, while everything may
technically be correct, there is still something
missing, something to make that photograph
look worlds better than it does. And you can
see it in your head – it should look better, but
why doesn’t it?

There are a few ways you can adjust the Tone

Curve to give your picture that bit of magic it
seems to lack initially, but by messing with it
too much, you might as well end up with a
horrible, unrecognizable image. The most
dependable technique is adding a slight “S” curve by dragging the lower third of
the curve down slightly, and the upper third of the curve slightly upwards. What
this does is darken the shadows, which is the lower third of the Curve, and
lightens the bright portions of the image, which are represented by the upper
third of the Curve. You may just as well use the sliders under the Tone Curve to
specifically change exactly what you want.

Lets take the above picture and try to add a little more contrast to it by playing
with the Tone Curve. By setting the Lights slider to +29, I boosted the brighter
portions of the image while still retaining enough tones to keep them from
blowing out. By moving the Darks slider to -39, I’ve darkened the shadowy parts
of the image, yet not enough to make them completely black. This is what I got
(enlarge and use arrow keys to compare; note changes in the Panel):

Looks much better, doesn’t it? And with such a modest adjustment, too. You may
notice color has changed somewhat as well – it’s a bit more saturated now,
deeper, especially the cherries. While in this case I don’t mind extra punch in
colors, it would be nice if I could set the effect to Luminance only – too bad
Lightroom didn’t add such feature with the new version, Photoshop allows one to
do that. Still, I can always bring those colors down by adjusting the Vibrance
slider in the Basic Panel if needed.

2) And If You Want Less…

…all you need to do is set the curve to reverse

“S” by bringing the Lights down and upping
the Darks a little. You may want to do that
when you find the image to be too contrasty
as it is, or if you want to achieve a certain low
contrast look. Setting the Tone Curve into
reverse “S” will flatten the image, bring Lights
and Highlights closer to Darks and Shadows in
their tonality. This also helps if you have
blown-out portions of image that you want to
fix specifically with this tool, although you
should always remember the Tone Curve
works best in conjunction with the rest of the
tools you can find in Lightroom.

Lets see what happens if you push the upper half of the Tone Curve slightly
down (Lights at -50) and the lower half of it upwards (Darks at +50):

Looks much more flat, and the colors are less vibrant, too. This kind of Curve
adjustment can often serve B&W photographs very well. Have you ever
wondered why some of those black & white’s are so dreamy and moody? A low
contrast Curve might just be one of the reasons, take a look:

3) Don’t Overcook It

Too much is usually not a good thing, and Tone Curve adjustments follow this
rule. Altering the Curve too drastically may lead to blown-out highlights and
pitch-black shadows, so unless this is what you’re after, play safe and adjust the
Tone Curve along with Basic Panel settings to get the best result. Remember,
while it is one of the most powerful tools in Lightroom, you may end up ruining
your image just as easily as enhancing it.

4) Experiment!

You may find that you only need to alter Lights, or Highlights, or maybe turn that
straight line into a zigzag. Experiment! It’s the best way you can learn quickly and
find new techniques to enhance your images on your own and then, hopefully,
share them with others.

Good luck!

RELATED ARTICLES

Most-Used Lightroom Lightroom Dodging and How to Split-Tone Photos in

Keyboard Shortcuts Burning Tutorial Lightroom

How and Why to Use the Our Multi-Part Lightroom How to Use the Basic Panel in
Lightroom Metadata Panel Tutorial on Youtube Lightroom

DISCLOSURES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND SUPPORT OPTIONS

FILED UNDER: POST PROCESSING

TAGGED WITH: HOWTO, LIGHTROOM, LIGHTROOM 3, LIGHTROOM 4, LIGHTROOM TUTORIAL, MASTERING
LIGHTROOM, PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS, TIPS FOR BEGINNERS, TUTORIAL

About Romanas Naryškin

A student and a wedding photographer with a passion for
cinematography and writing. You'll see me buying film even
when there's no food in the fridge. Follow me on Google+, Facebook or visit
my wedding photography website to see some of my work.

Join the discussion

Post Comment
Name*

Email*

16 COMMENTS Newest

Emma
July 3, 2015 1:20 am

Thanks! :) i’m using Olympus Master 2 from my Olympus DSLR to make my photos look less
lighter for my Nikon Coolpix images, it runs faster than the Nikon software so i’m using this
instead, taking up-close photos isn’t too good with it, the macro on it sucks and photos
closer to the subject i’m taking a photo of it gets flooded with too much light from the flash
so i turn down the ISO to compensate but then it’s too dull looking, i always wanted to figure
out how the Tone Curve pannel works on photo editing softwares and dragging the lower 3rd
of it down then the top 3rd up works well :).

I like putting handy life hacks i figure out on pinterest, the 3rd photo i slightly moved the top
3rd left in a straight line too, just slightly, this kind of darkens it too but makes the objects
look a bit more colorful and contrasted, might not work with some kinds of shots but it does
for objects up closer or shiney plastic objects, this helped so much and now i can some what
make my photos look better.

0 Reply

robin
July 23, 2013 7:08 am

is there a way to use the lightroom 5 curve like the lightroom 4 curve feature? I’m finding the
latest version very frusterating as i can not move it freely. why is this?

0 Reply

Michael
December 1, 2012 5:05 pm

How would you use lightroom/tonal curve to reduce or soften sunlight on a subjects face?
The prior version had a “recovery” option which aided with this, but it is not present in the
newer version. Any suggestions?

0 Reply

Romanas Naryškin Author

Reply to Michael December 4, 2012 2:49 pm

Hello, Michael!

I would probably use the Tone Curve along with the Local Adjust Brush tool, of which I
am yet to write. Also, Recovery option has been split into several sliders in Lightroom 4,
which makes for a more versatile tool. Read about it here – photographylife.com/maste…
asic-panel

0 Reply

Shyam
August 26, 2012 9:48 pm

Hi Roman,

To be frank, I really didn’t have a clue about what each slider do for me in Lightroom before
reading this post and one other article both written by you.

All my photographer friends and all the online photography sites suggest that one should
shoot in RAW, so I started doing it. But I had a big trouble when doing the post processing
because I was moving each slider without knowing what it was doing and the end result
always turned out to be a complete mess.

I have just done reading through this and “How to use the basic panel” articles, both of
which are written by you and I am very thankful to you for giving us such a big help. Your
writing is easy to understand and it didn’t get me confused at all. I was trying to look for
Lightroom tutorials all this morning on internet but until I discovered your posts, I was being
hopeless because I got more and more confused as no one explained as clearly as you did
about how each slider affect which part of the image in such a step by step way.

I will continue to browse through Mansurovs for more Lightroom related articles and
hopefully, I’ll get to know more about other panels other than this two, as well as about black
and white photography and some other tips if you have written any.

Thank you again and wish you have a great day :)

Sincerely,
Shyam

0 Reply

Lucid Strike
August 7, 2012 9:25 pm

Darktable, which I use instead of Lightroom, allows one to curve the luminance or rather
‘lightness’. Strike one up for software libre. :)

0 Reply

Logan
April 8, 2012 1:43 am

i’ve been using LR3 for almost 11 months, and recently upgraded to LR4(trying to get used to
the new basic panels) , and because of this post, i finally know how to use the curves. Great
help. Thanks. I hope you can also post some basics for PS, cause i really don’t know how to
use it, and i think i need to learn it as well.

Anyway, thank you so much. Great help

0 Reply

shak
April 2, 2012 3:40 pm

Roman,
I just started learning LightRoom (LR) and I order LR3 from BH just before LR4 release. So
far, I’m not sure what are major new feature in LR4. I hope your excellent tutorials should give
a good jump start for any new LR beginner like me. Are you writing these articles specific to
LR4 features?

0 Reply

Romanas Naryškin Author

Reply to shak April 2, 2012 11:02 pm

So far, I am working with LR4, but plenty of controls are identical – you will find most
changes in the basic panel, as I’ve described in this tutorial –
photographylife.com/maste…asic-panel.

The Tone Curve is almost exactly the same, I believe, so go on and experiment.
Lightroom 3 is a great program!

0 Reply

Shawn
April 2, 2012 11:39 am

Following Lightroom’s “top to bottom” workflow, I find whenever I get down to curves any
changes I make here usually push my images “over the top”. I seem to get plenty of “pop” via
exposure, recovery, fill light, blacks, brightness, and contrast sliders.

What am I doing wrong that I never feel the need to use curves? Everyone goes on and on
about how awesome curves are, so I know it’s probably me! ;)

-Shawn

0 Reply

Shawn
Reply to Shawn April 2, 2012 12:16 pm

Forgot to mention I also use Clarity, which is also before Curves, and that often adds
plenty of contrast without going overboard.

0 Reply

Romanas Naryškin Author

Reply to Shawn April 2, 2012 12:26 pm

Hello, Shawn!

Clarity has a rather different function than the Curve. I usually set my Basic Panel
in such a way that I’m still left with room to adjust the Curve to the level of
contrast I need. Basically I make sure I have all of my tones in check before moving
on. I try to use every function the way it was designed to so that I achieve the best
result. If Clarity works for you, great – there is really no wrong way in this as long
as you like the result. I rarely use Brightness or Contrast sliders at all. Clarity is a
very delicate setting that can easily bring unwanted effect. Read the following
article if you haven’t yet to learn a little more – photographylife.com/maste…asic-
panel

Maybe you’ll find it useful :)

Also, the curves are not limited to just adjusting the contrast. I hope to talk about it
in more detail sometime later :)

0 Reply

Sid
April 1, 2012 6:19 pm

You read my mind Roman. This is just the article I was waiting for from Mansurovs :)

0 Reply

Romanas Naryškin Author

Reply to Sid April 2, 2012 12:19 pm

I’m glad, Sid!

0 Reply

Matt
April 1, 2012 10:42 am

Anothe fine piece, thanks Roman! I am also cheesed that you cannot adjust a curve with
luminosity only, as you can in Photoshop. Maybe in Lightroom 5!

0 Reply

Romanas Naryškin Author

Reply to Matt April 2, 2012 12:18 pm

Maybe, Matt, we can hope. Still, it’s a little sad we’ll have to wait even longer for such a
useful and, frankly, rather obvious feature.

0 Reply

SITE MENU REVIEWS MORE

About Us Reviews Archive Contact Us

Beginner Camera Reviews Subscribe
Photography Lens Reviews Workshops
Lens Database Other Gear Reviews Support Us
Lens Index Submit Content
Photo Spots
Search
Forum

Copyright © 2024 · Photography Life