Custom curves?

[edneeves]

I have been reading up quite a bit on custom curves and I am a little bit perplexed. Why would we need to alter the normal curve in the camera? Surely Nikon have a slightly better understanding of what would work for the majority of situations!

If I get an image that I am not happy about do I automatically blame the curve that the camera has set or do I try and taylor my shooting style so that I achieve it next time?

Please, if I am missing something let me know.

Ed.

[gooseberry]

Hi ed,

It's all a matter of personal taste and preferences - but it is also true that one tone curve is not suitable for every situation. Nikon may have chosen the curve they believe will work best in most standard situations, but it may not be to everybody's liking. Also, there may be times where you want a low contrast tone curve, or have a more increased contrast.

Custom curves are all about choice - giving you the option of customising the response of the camera based on your own personal preferences.

[mudder]

G'day Ed,

Some people use curves to "brighten" the mid-tones as there seems to be a common opinion that the D70 tends to err on the side of under-exposure in order to preserve highlights... There's swags of curves available on the net, I've tried a couple but just use curves in PP instead...

Cheers. PS. Cool avatar

[gstark]

Ed,

This isn't a matter of what might work for the majority of situations - and lets face it, Nikon certainly should know this stuff. But that's all for what might be termed as "typical" photos, whatever the hell that might mean.

Let's rephrase the question a little ...

Why would a person choose Fuji film over Kodak, or in the b&W realm, Agfa over Kodak or Ilford?

Just as different films have different imaging characteristics - contrast ranges, colour reproduction characteristics, etc, so too do the various exposure curves that are available. The camera itself comes with 5 pre-loaded that will satisfy many needs, but if you prefer a particular shade of Fuji to any shade of Kodak (as I do) then the use of one of the various custom cureves may be worthwhile investigating.

[gstark]

Andrew,

G'day Ed,

Some people use curves to "brighten" the mid-tones as there seems to be a common opinion that the D70 tends to err on the side of under-exposure in order to preserve highlights... There's swags of curves available on the net, I've tried a couple but just use curves in PP instead...

Don't confuse the curves adjustments that you might make in typical PP with the underlying curve that an image is built on; they're two entirely different beasties.

[edneeves]

Why not just shoot in RAW and alter any isues with curves later. Why go through uploading them and selecting them before you take the shot?

Ed.

[stubbsy]

Andrew,

G'day Ed,

Some people use curves to "brighten" the mid-tones as there seems to be a common opinion that the D70 tends to err on the side of under-exposure in order to preserve highlights... There's swags of curves available on the net, I've tried a couple but just use curves in PP instead...

Don't confuse the curves adjustments that you might make in typical PP with the underlying curve that an image is built on; they're two entirely different beasties.

An additional note to Gary's comment - if you want to do these curve adjustments you would use something like Curve Surgery or Raw Magick which DO allow you to change the underlying curve after taking the shot & prior to start of PP.

[gstark]

Why not just shoot in RAW and alter any isues with curves later. Why go through uploading them and selecting them before you take the shot?

Ed.

Ed,

First of all, I might not particularly like the default curves that Nikon provided (I don't) and I may just happen to like one of the many available custom curves, to the point where (just like a brand and style of film) I'm happy to use that as my starting point.

So, I have a starting point that is not Nikon's default (nor did I use Kodak film very often) but is a compromise that I am happy with, and then, for those images that I think need different processing, I still have all those options available to me.

Given that I'll probably be happy with 85% + of the images taken under those conditions, why would I NOT want to have that curve loaded?


Now (and moving right along) to do the sort of processing I've described, you MUST have a tool like Curve Surgery, as Stubbsy has mentioned.

When you're altering your curves in your PP, you are NOT touching the underlying curve upon which the image is based. You are modifying the image in a later stage of its lifecycle.

That said, I pretty well always shoot in raw, i have Curve surgery and can pull a different curve into play if I'm unhappy with the custom curve I originally used, and I can then still run the full gamut of any other PP techniques in NC and/or PS.

Total flexibility, just like a darkrrom, enlarger, and wetbench, but without the chems.

[edneeves]

I suppose its good to have the creative freedom to adjust the camera as you see fit and not how Nikon would dictate. I don't really have too much of an understanding of custom curves at this moment in time but I am sure that with a bit of deeper knowledge into the workings of my camera this situation may change.

Its nice to know that you can get a personally more pleasing image straight out of the camera, and assuming you haven't shot in JPEG can go back on this at any time.

Good old Nikon... they have thought of everything

Cheers for all your input, everyone here has a wealth of knowledge that I hope to slowly excavate over time

Ed.

[Onyx]

Ed, another point with tone curves and the D70 is, colour rendition and saturation changes depending on the tone curve used. Higher contrast suppresses colours, lower contrast exaggerates them. So selecting your tone curve not only alters the tone of the image, it alters saturation too.

Be thankful that your camera has the ability to do this, leading to you raise the question of "why" rather than having a crippled camera that can't - and you needing to find an alternate solution and asking "how".