For most folks, curves is the weapon of choice, and for good reason. Curves is one of the easiest way to dial in just the right amount of contrast to make photograph “pop”. Today though I’m going to share 5 simple ways to make your photos pop without curves. Each provides a slightly different look to your photograph, and I present them only as potential tools in your arsenal of tricks. In general I use some combination of all them in almost all my work, in addition to curves to take my photographs to higher levels.
I know I said no curves, but this is curves in Lab mode, and it’s a very different beast than RGB curves. Everything about it works differently, and it’s a topic worthy of it’s own post or posts even. I’m not going to get into the hows and whys now, but Lab provides some beautiful color transitions, and a distinctly unique look. For now though, as before convert your image to lab color.
