Lightroom Curves are super powerful and often confusing to new users. But this year’s updates have made them better and easier than ever to use in both manual edits and as presets.
How to use the new Lightroom Curves and why they are so great.
Curves in any photo editing app are always powerful. You’ve seen me use them in Lightroom, Capture One, and extensively in my PS action packs like Lumist and Blackroom. But in today’s video, I’ll show you the 3 latest Lightroom curve features and why they will make your edits better.
If you’ve not seen my video about how to make an F-Curve watch it here. Get My Elegance presets here to have your curves pre built into layers with a click.
With curves, you have nuanced control. Now in layers.
It’s simple to use some examples as I show you here or in my presets and you’ll see how that light touch makes a massive difference.
All 3 of the new Lightroom Curves features I show today are useful. But the biggest is how we can use the curves directly in Ai masks and layers. Even the color curves.
Using the latest curve feature I can add a film preset like Agfa RSK from Filmist, then simple control tone and fallout with an F-Curve, the new saturation sliders, and the new preset save features.
This means as a layer level as I show in the video you can instantly refine a background or subject like you never could before. And you can even build that into a preset as I do in my Elegance Speed Masks pack.
You see how I’ll often roll down the highlights a bit ( the right side of the curve) and then mix the shadows until it feels right. You can mix this will all other sliders, and if you use curves in a preset as I showed you in the video you can get a great curve and keep coming back.
Why do I use Lightroom curves more than Levels?
Curves offer more granular control. Sometimes a point curve like I showed here seems more complex. But once you understand that you are just nudging things around from shadows to highlights, you can quickly resolve problems like harch specular highlights or shadows falling too deep.
A little shadow lift or highlight drop can go a long way. Use my F curve examples as a starter and ten just have fun. Soon you’ll be a master of Lightroom Curves
The new ability to add these curves in layers I actually huge, in this case letting us fad the background as I showed you in the video.
“Go to the bathroom,” My mentor told me – After 15 years, I saw it. These free online photography courses are game-changing.
Shadow Hackers LIVE
With Gavin Seim. Wed July 6th | 11AM CST (UTC-6)
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Those camera club-type guys
So reassuring to counter those camera club-type guys that want everything shown in detail …Thanks for the seminar today, it was very useful and interesting. Great references to the old masters.
Mark Shaw
This free online photography course is LIVE and teaches you the critical things every photo course ignores.
I’ve taught classroom and online photography courses for 15 years But none compare to Shadow Hackers. This is my free online photography course that will ignite your photography in one day.
I’m Gavin Seim. I’ve been a photographer for over 20 years. You may be thinking. “Ugh, another crappy online photo webinar about things I already know!” — It’s not I guarantee you.
You’re about to see everything in your photos!
And nothing will be the same once you do. I’ve been building the Shadow hacking method for a decade and no one else is teaching what I’m about to show you. In one hour I’m going to challenge everything you know.
Have you ever taken a great photo but not know why it worked so well? Or took a shot and expected a great photo, only to be disappointed? I’ll show you why.
I’m Gavin Seim, a Master photographer, YouTuber, and host of the Pro Photography Podcast.
It was the early 2000s when digital blew up. I realized that to survive in photography, I had to stand out. I traveled. I paid for classes. I studied with the top photographers. I wanted to become a Master of Photography and when I finally did in 2017, I realized that was just the start.
Photo schools and conferences won’t teach you this stuff…
This may sound dramatic, but it was a dramatic change for me! You may be where I was 15 years ago. You may be newer, or advanced. But you’re here because you want to be BETTER! It took me so many years of advanced photography study to discover what I’m showing you in these free online photography courses.
A glimpse of what I’m going to teach you!
Cameras don’t tell you the “right exposure”. Here’s how you do it!
The secret to dramatic photos is NOT actually light and this is why!
Easily combine art and science to instantly improve your photography!
The actually free online photography course will transform your photography fast.
The reason is that most photo teachers don’t know this. These secrets are not common and have been lost over the years since digital.
Have you ever felt like you’re missing a link to something important, but you’re so close so you keep looking? Finding the information was not as easy in those days and it’s surprisingly hard even with the internet.
When I started grasping bits of this I was blown away. I called my friend who was a long-time rep for a major camera brand and said… why did no one tell me this It felt so strange because I would never see light and shadow the same again.
That was the year I started documenting and trying to make it simple. The next year I started filming the award-winning Exposed workshops. But the process was not complete. Over a decade later, I made this free online photography course to make it easier to start out.
Shadow Hackers free online photography courses for those who want to step ahead of the pack.
I remember discovering something early one early on, standing in the window of my studio. I asked my friend
“Why did no one tell me this about photography?”
He laughed and said… “They don’t teach that stuff anymore!
I needed to understand the secrets of the masters that they never complied into one course. When I finally discovered these I knew I had to make free online photography courses to share it. Techniques to get great photos every day, not just when things go well. No tool or software makes you a great photographer. Knowing this does!
I started shooting large-format films. I was understanding tones, the truth about light meters, and finally the truth about SHADOW. It changed everything and pushed me to become a PPA Master Photographer and create my HotOne award-winning Exposed workshop. But it was not enough.
Now it’s 2022 and photographers are still not being taught this. We’re going to change that together. I’ve compressed this into a LIVE workshop that makes the 3 secrets of shadow hacking simple and challenges everything you know. And once you know. You will spread it.
I came back to my mentor, the legendary Whitmore, and said.
“This changes everything. I don’t know if I can see normally again”
Ken laughed because to him it was normal. The man that had given me only the film holders for a 4×5 camera then told me to go sit in the bathroom. He didn’t think about it like this because it was normal.
A LIVE online photography course, not another marketing replay!
When I started with film in the ’90s. There was no redo button. If you listen. This will change your photography faster than you ever thought possible. I’m going to show you, for free.
This is a real LIVE class, not an automated webinar. There will never be another just like it. The class will be 70-80 minutes and there no replay. So set your calendar and don’t miss this opportunity.
Sign up above and I can’t wait to see you there. Gavin Seim
As of 2023, this is the absolute best way to get dramatic black and white I have discovered. Plus I just did a big update to my Blackroom actions (login here if you own Blackroom)
But today’s video will fill you with black and white-ness, even if you don’t use my actions.
I’ll show you the best way to create black and white in Photoshop and why it;’s better than doing it only in Lightroom as we edit a landscape and a portrait. Go fullscreen and watch this one in 4k.
Improving your Dramatic black and white is about nuance.
New photographers often make the mistake of thinking that dramatic black and white is more about adding contrast. Something the opposite is true. It’s actually about using shadow correctly.
That’s why you see me in the video referencing to the Zones and thinking about where I want the tone to be placed. You control all of that.
This lovely portrait edited fine in Lightroom. But in Blackroom it refined much more.
Lightroom, C1, or Photoshop for Dramatic black and white?
Both work great as you’ll see in today’s hands-on video. If you have a good editing plan they bother convert beautifully. But I’ll show you in today’s video why you will always get a bit more if you finish in Photoshop, even if you started out in Lightroom or Capture One (which is what I do).
In the end, you can do all of this manually, create your own tools, presets, actions etc if you are really experienced, or use tools like my Silver presets and Blackroom actions.
The main thing is to try the methods I showed you today and your dramatic black and white photos will touch the sky sell more and win competitions. Really.
That is the power of the dramatic black and white. Let me know what you think.
Gavin Seim
Using a gradient map and layers in PS I had more control in this photo from Yosemite National Park
This week I finally finished a big updater for my FIlmist presets and Capture One style.
Filmist 1.9 just got a bit update with big improvements to Portra 160 Push, Pro 400H, Velvia, darkroom-inspired mod presets, and more. I’ll show you everything in the video. If you already own Filmist, login here for the free update of Filmist Complete.
Intense edits that are clearly digital in nature can be amazing. But what I have learned over the years is that most of us over-edit, A LOT! Understanding the balance that film brings makes you edit everything better.
Even my more digital-focused editing kits like Natural HDR are shaped by the idea of being Natural. That’s because I was there when HDR arrived in the world, I saw digital become the dominant force, and I watched the transition happen. This is something we talked about on the recent Pro Photography Podcast.
Big Velvia 50 refinements bring out that classic red hue in a beautiful way.Portra 160 Push gives that snap and a true-to-life red shift that actually makes Portra 160 feel perfect,.
What if I don’t like Film?
Making film presets that work is very time confusing and detailed. Most people think they don’t like film looks because they have never really used them. Once you see that film was actually the well round bade baseline of everything we do in digital. It gives you perspective.
Even if I’m editing with Street’ist or something bold like Gold-Chrome, the film looks to create a trustworthy reference point. I think it really helps people have confidence in Lightroom and Capture One editing and make their work more emotionally focused instead id… Look how much I edited this.
Let me know what you think in the comments and enjoy Filmist 1,9.
Gavin Seim
Nuances improved in the LUTS Lightroom Presets and Capture One style. Even in Portraits Velvia 50 retains a more natural balance just like in the darkroom if exposed well.Classics like the AgfaFled RSX preset gives you more versatility. I use this look a lot in video edits also.
It was 2013 and I had been attending and teaching at the Wall Portrait Conference for a few years. But there was always something new to learn especially from Ken.
This man inspired most of the things I teach today in my Photography workshops and talk about on the Pro Photography Podcast. There were a half dozen of us in this small class and here’s the video found from that day.
There are not many videos of masters like Ken, Ansel Adams, and others from his time. But Whitmire carried on into the digital age.
So most people that go to a rockstar photographer’s class at the photo conference don’t realize that what they are being taught about being a profitable portrait studio is usually from Ken. He and others of the time like Stephen Wolf invented this stuff and creates that part of the industry. Ken has more awards than you could fit in your studio and was the Ansel of the portrait.
Ken taught the portrait industry.
Ken showed them how to create the Canvas Wall Portrait and in fact, he and colleagues like Stephen Wolf that came out of the 50’s era were the ones that create the idea of high-end canvas photo prints long before there was inked.
So when you see us young guys talking about projecting or selling wall art or creating art decor. We didn’t invent that. We learned it from Ken if we were lucky or we learned it from classes taught by photographers that Ken taught over the decades right up until he passed away in 2016.
My favorite portrait of Ken I took while helping him on a session on the Oregon Coast.
I shot this clip, a rare look inside Ken’s WPC classrooms.
It was often dark in these classes for projection and video was not as easy then. This was taken at Wall Portrait Conference, a 6-day workshop at Kens Studio that happened every Spring in Yakima Washington. Probably on an iPhone 4. I never named the file, and I never noticed it until today when I discovered it on my hard drive.
The also was bad, so I used Adobe AI POdcast audio took to restore it. It helped a lot, but that’s why it sounds a little strange at times as the audio had faded and the Ai is trying to restore it.
Wall Portrait Conference is not around anymore. But its message lives.
Even if it was, it would not be quite the same. Ken was always the engine behind WPC. Teaching is different now. It’s always an up-selling product, trying to be exclusive It’s TikTok youtube, and digital marketing. Those have value for us (well not TikTok). But us kids from this generation still can’t replicate his energy or his willingness to share. Nothing was held back in Ken’s classes and none of us could keep up.
When you go all in as I did in those days learning from Ken. When you stop thinking small and sell like this, you sell art for walls and it can transform your business. In this new world of fakery and Ai content, I think that authentic portraits like this will become even more important to people.
Ken passed in late 2016 and we all miss him. Here’s his tribute video as well as a few more cuts on creating and selling Wall portraits from Ken and from what he taught me in those years. There was only one and at least, we have videos like this to remind us.
Gavin Seim
Another gold clip from ken I found a few years back on raising the quality of our work.
