Best explanation of how and why I have ever heard/seen! Thank you!

Several lighthbulbs lit for me while watching this, my understanding of levels and curves has improved exponentially. Thanks Sean.

You are a hidden gem, Sean. Love from India.

You have my gratitude. It now makes so much more sense to me when and why to use curves over levels.

Excellent video and wonderful teaching. Not only did you show how to use these tools step-by-step, but you also explained how they work. That extra information gives me the understanding I need to use these tools to their benefit. Thank you!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Most welcome.

Very good explanation with examples. You are a great teacher. Love from India

By far the clearest, most straight-forward explanation of how and why to use each tool. Thank you so much!

Excellent and concise tutorial on the merits of both. 👍

Excellent video and easy explanation about complex adjustment, thanks so much!

Another great video Sean.........you have a gift for video teaching that is in a league of its own.

WOW! What a great and effective tutorial on the differences. Great video!

So great to see you, Thank you

Excellent Sean. Great explanation......

Awesome video once again Sean. Thank you.

Really really helpful. Side by side comparison of Levels and Curves that part was awesome. Thanks

Excellent Sean, thank you!

A useful and well presented video Sean, thanks!

great tutorial, thanks. Improved my understanding of these tools. I've used both of them for years but couldn't explain why.

Thanks Sean, excellent tutorial..

Great presentation- thanks for posting.

Top notch display on how to use and understand the tools. definitely one the best here on KZread! Thank you very much !

Well done Sean. Always a difficult question for beginners.

Very detailed and helpful explanation. Thanks for the video.

Very detailed explanation of the functionality! Thanks...

I have read a lot of articles and viewed a lot of videos on levels vs. curves. Your explanation is the clearest of them all.

Best tutorial Sean! Thank you very much !

Amazing video Sean, thank you so much.

Wonderful! Clear and complete info Thank YOU

What a great overview. I’ve been using Photoshop for 23 years and this has taught me a lot. More so the why of using both; without the hit or miss of guessing. It’s been a while since I subscribed and I haven’t watch one of your videos in close to a year, all the more reason to hit the bell for notifications from your channel. Thanks much for this great video.

Excellent as usual. Thanks Batman!

Great refresher - +. Thank you, Sean. It is an excellent presentation.

Thank you so much Sean. That’s the best explanation of levels and curves I’ve ever seen. I actually know how to use it now! Brilliant 👍👍👍

One of the best-explained tutorials this. I was using these really not knowing what all these tools could do. Thanks.

Excellent tutorial, thanks

Brilliant explanation. Thank you!

This was awesome Sean. Downloaded! A lot my images contain contrast as in your example so I know now which tool has more flexibility for adjustments. Thanks so much!

Excellent explanation of the difference, thank you!

Great tutorial! You explain things very well, thanks!

Thank you Sean, I have never fully understood Levels and Curves and this is the best explanation I’ve watched. You are an awesome teacher

Wow! thank you for a great explanation of levels and curves. I am a novice at PS and like to know the 'why' and 'how' of things and this did just that. Thank you.

Excellent tutorial

Thank you very much Sean, best explanation. Very helpful 👍🏼

I think I finally understand these 2 adjustments, what a great tut ! :)

Great tutorial ..highly recommended.

Great video.. very helpful.

Amazing clarification !!! First time I got this so clear cut !!! 10 points...Thanks. I´m already subscribed.

I learned a lot from this! Thank you!

Awesome video again Sean👍 I consider myself an intermediate to advanced PS user (thanks to your tutorials) over the last 10 years. But, I find videos like this so helpful when refreshing the basics and learning something I didn’t even know in detail after so many years of PS use. Thanks again mate 👍

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Ben Elliott you bet! The funny thing is that when I make a video I usually end up learning new things in the process too. Making this tutorial certainly solidified some things for me that have been a little murky for two decades 😆

Mind blown! Best explanation of curves ever! I’ve been using it for years but still learned something new. Thanks Sean!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Nice! Just making the video cleared up some things for me too. 😆

very helpful tutorial Sean! I never unterstand the difference or the advantage of each tool. Big thanks for that :D

Thanks for the great explanation and free download. As I'm trying to improve my post processing skills in astrophotography / Photoshop I really needed a clearer understanding of the Curves and Levels, which is key in bringing faint deep sky objects to life.

Best 25 min spent in a long time!!! Thank you! Btw, anybody ever tell you that you could be Rick Steve’s cool younger brother?

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Hahaha! That may be a first for that one. I often get Gordon Ramsay’s less cool brother. 😆

Great explanations.!

Excellent Tutorial¡¡ The best I have never seen¡¡ Thanks¡¡ 👍

I can only say thanks for this great video and amazing explanation

A very comprehensive explanation of curves and Levels. So easy to follow with beautiful picture examples. Thank you Sean for keeping things simple. Great teacher. Thank you...

Another PERFECT explanation and lesson for 2 important Photoshop tools.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Yo Chris!

Great video. Your tutorials have helped me a bunch. Thank you for doing what you do!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

You are welcome 😁

This was wonderful! Explains so much. I’m now much more comfortable using curves in a variety of ways. Thank you!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Yay! That’s the goal. 😁

Great video Sean 👍

Thanks, Sean. I needed this. Ive seen many people claim that there isnt much difference but you illustrated it nicely here. I need to get better with curves

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Right on Zack! Glad it illustrates the differences. The key comes down to that Curves works on a two-axis system and allows multiple control points vs Levels having just one adjustment axis and is limited to three control points.

Outstanding. I've used PS for decades and have purchased/viewed most all your instructional videos (so I didn't expect to learn anything new :-)). What impressed me most was how clearly and succinctly you identify key differences between the three tools. And describe strengths/limitations, best use cases. You are indeed a gifted educator. And an extremely talented artist!

@victor8192002

4 жыл бұрын

Just so, Tom!

Oh my goodness thank you! So very very helpful. I’ve actually been really struggling with this today. You’ve inspired a new approach for tomorrow!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Killer! Let us know how it goes.

Nice work thnx mate

Sean, Thank you for a great tutorial, it is without a doubt the best explanation of this subject I have come across. I thought that I understood curves but have just proved me wrong in the best way possible.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

That makes my day, Russell...in the best way possible. 😁

Hi Sean; Another great video. Thank you so much for making and explaining the difference between Levels and Curves at such an understandable level. I am coming from a LrC environment and as a result I need to absorb these concepts in small manageable pieces which is exactly what you have accomplished. Keep Covid-19 safe and keep creating. Cheers, Keith Pinn (Canada)

You certainly are one of the very best photoshop trainers on the web. I really appreciate your videos and help. I would love to see more a class something like the Photoshop Essentials course using the TK7 panel. Again, thanks so much for your help.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Kent! Have you seen the TK7 Video Guide? That’s pretty much what that is. More TK videos in the works as well.

Very,very helpful

Excellent. I use levels only occasionally., Brightness-contrast never. Curves do everything and they do it better. I've never seen a better tutorial on this topic. Thank you.

I think we've all seen videos that blew our minds, showing something in Photoshop completely new to us. But there's something really cool about getting a crystal clear guide to some tool we reach for every day. Sean, thanks for explaining this so well! The decision to lay this out in a build from Brightness/Contrast to Levels and then to Curves was a great strategy. I'm still a long way from mastering these tools, but at least I feel like I can take off the oven mitts I've had on! Thanks again

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Joe Colletti So glad this vid was useful for you. Keep getting after it!

Hi Sean This Hass to be the best explanation I’ve ever seen of levels versus curves. Thank you for your great video tutorial. Pat Hogarty from El Dorado Hills California

As a compositor I am always relying upon levels or curves to even out tones of the layers. I thought that I understood those tools and I've watched all the videos but after this video I have new insight into how to use them effectively and to mitigate "bad" curves adjustments. Thank you! Well done! Your approach was done in a way that made learning easy. Definitely a reference video for me.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

That’s great to hear. Especially from someone who does composites. That is next level stuff that really takes talent and skill.

Thank you so much for this tutorial. You have brought levels and curves to life in a way that made perfect sense. Also, I must just say that I was fascinated by whatever you did to demonstrate the 2 methods side by side. I know the very basics of split screen set ups but that was wonderful!! :) Thank you again.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

So glad you liked it. The split screen thing came to me in my sleep 🤣

Sean, That was excellent. I know it took quite some time to make the video. Please keep it up!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Will do!

Great explanation Sean!The only thing I would add is in curves it is easy to see where you have more contrast as that will be the steepest part of the line. Many thanks for the in-depth!

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Great add! Dang, now I wish I had pointed that out in the vid.

As always well done man. Gotta agree curves is better but also easy to mess up. I only use levels for bringing back shadow details it feels more accurate using a numerical value.

No wonder you're one of the best educators around

thank´s a lot!!!!!!

During this vid I did a pause & went to your learning tutorials page. Do you have a video showing a post processing image comparison using just PS & then the TK Panel?

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

I don’t have a video that does that specifically, but in many places I show how to a technique both with and without the panel. This is particularly the case with many of my videos on my KZread channel as well as in the Favorite PS Techniques series.

13:36 you are discussing if the histogram is near clipping to the white side. The little triangular "!" sign (the histogram display refresh warning) indicates the histogram is outdated; click it to refresh, same of course for curves.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Yep 👍

My biggest jump in improving my post processing was to avoid ever using either curves or levels and instead expose the photo for the thing I want to emphasize, such as the highlights and then adjusting the exposure of the RAW image in post. The exposure adjustment done that way adds in the contrast but without losing information in the blacks that happens when using curves or levels on a flat image. I always get digital artifacts if the image starts out flat since the camera has less dynamic range than the human eye, but if I expose for the dynamic range that is important for that image I don't have digital artifacts when correcting the exposure.

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Great advice. I definitely do some tone and contrast work in raw, but I still use Levels and/or Curves in PS quite a bit to fine-tune the image and also because I like to use masks and luminosity selections to apply them locally.

@IamUke

4 жыл бұрын

I do the same, even to the point of using my Sekonic meter to read the highlights / focal points of the scene, then adjusting the exposure accordingly. It's planning ahead to the post processing so you have the best possible base image for what you want to do with the image.

Great explanation! Definitely an "Aha Moment" for me. It has taken away some of the fear I have in using this tool.

If you have your base layer in photoshop opened as a smart object and want to make targeted adjustments to contrast or brightness, is there any advantage of opening a new smart object layer via copy and using curves in camera raw vs opening another layer and using curves in Photoshop?

@SeanBagshaw

4 жыл бұрын

Ooh! That's a great question. I'd have to test and see if the image would look any different or if there were any quality advantages. If there were I think they would be minimal. Technically you might get more adjustment latitude doing the adjustment to the raw data, but again I think it would be minimal. You have some additional adjustment options with the raw Curves than PS Curves, so if you prefer using that tool then that's an advantage. The disadvantages I can think of would be the increased file size that comes with smart object pixel layers and also that the smart object copy layer is a pixel layer, so it will block any adjustments or layers that are below it in the layer stack. This is never an issue with non-pixel adjustment layers in PS.

I noticed there was a breaks in your histogram (black lines) when you made adjustments. What causes that and is it something you want to avoid?

@SeanBagshaw

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Scott. Those breaks are sometimes referred to as "combing". If the bands are actually there then they can signal missing tones which can cause banding. However, when working in 16-bit, the bands are almost never actually there. PS uses a cached 8-bit preview of the image to keep things working quickly. So the banding in the histogram is what would be there if your actual image was 8-bit. If you notice, up in the right corner of the histogram you'll see a triangle with an exclamation point in it. That symbol indicates that the histogram is being created from a lower-resolution 8-bit image. Clicking the triangle causes the histogram to be redrawn directly from the high-resolution 16-bit file, which should eliminate the comb look and therefore indicate that the image isn't really posterized. If you update the histogram and it still has coming then you may have a problem with banding...but I suspect you would have already seen it in your image by then.

@scottfwalter

3 жыл бұрын

Sean Bagshaw thank you for the thoughtful and detailed answer. I really appreciate it.

Curves 4ever 😝😝