Curves2-exposure
This is second tutorial about using “Curves” filter in Macromedia Fireworks. Now it is time to learn how to adjust shadows or highlights of the image.
LEVEL: Beginner who wants to be a Pro ;-)
WHAT YOU HAVE TO KNOW: Add live effects, work with objects
Do you read part one? If not, find it here ยป
If we have a shot with too dark shadow areas, like that sunflower below, we need to reveal more detail from the background. Let’s start - add “Curves” live effect
If we just drag black point upward, even most dark areas will turn grey. We don’t want that happen. Black must remain black! No?
So we make new point, near the bottom-left corner of grid and drag this point up until dark areas around sunflower start to show us their secrets.
This is better, but we can bring some more light in the background. Add another point and place it like this.
Add a point one more time. Try to make curve appear as smooth as possible, because that way image will look more natural. Here are the final curve and before/after image comparison.
Now let’s see another example. This time we haven’t enough details in highlights areas.
We do the same trick, but in upper-right corner (highlights). Yeah! More details on the wall.
Now it is time to fix shadow, since we made them darker then original.
Notice the white area on the wall. We can’t extract more details from there, because there are only pure white pixels in the original.
Note 1: Be careful! Curves can easy make some dramatic changes to your image. Make small changes at a time, so you don’t end in mess.
Note 2: To improve your image even more, try sharpen it.
Note 3: Often after curves adjustments saturation is changed. Fix that with “Hue/Saturation” live effect.
Note 4: Always try “Auto” button in Curves dialog. This can save you a lot of tweaking.
