Littletank Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 I have observed that in the Develop Assistant in the Develop Persona there is the option to apply or ignore a Tone Curve to the image when it is first developed from the RAW file. Could someone please explain the objective of this tone curve? I ask because my colour perception is rather poor and I intend to convert the developed images to black and white after development and it is important to me that the black and white points are set correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff James Ritson Posted October 31, 2017 Staff Share Posted October 31, 2017 Hey Littletank, the tone curve is simply a way of presenting a (hopefully) good tonal starting point when you develop your RAW file. RAW files go through a number of operations before the end user sees the result - including a transform from linear light to display referred, which includes gamma correction. On top of this, a tone curve is added to produce a more palatable result that looks similar to the output you would get from in-camera JPEGs. Choosing not to apply the tone curve skips this step, so effectively you'll see a flatter image with less contrast. In my RAW workflow I pretty much always take the tone curve off. Along with the Highlights slider (which has a more pronounced effect without the tone curve), this allows me to shape the image tonally exactly how I want. I'd recommend giving it a try, especially if you're working with images that were taken under tricky conditions - low light, bright skies, etc. Pretty much any RAW converter will add a tone curve to the image. Some software, including Photo, allows you to control this step if you prefer to work without it. Hope that helps! Quote Product Expert (Affinity Photo) & Product Expert Team Leader @JamesR_Affinity for tutorial sneak peeks and more Official Affinity Photo tutorials Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Littletank Posted October 31, 2017 Author Share Posted October 31, 2017 Thank you very much indeed for this quite comprehensive answer and, as I think it better to start with a flatter image, the tone curve stays off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.