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<html>
<!-- #BeginTemplate "pdn_help.dwt" -->
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<!-- #BeginEditable "title" -->
<title>Paint.NET Help - Curves</title>
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<img border="0" src="../images/logo.png" width="229" height="73" align="left"><p><b><br>
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<!-- #BeginEditable "content" -->
<h2>Curves Adjustment</h2>
<p><img align="right" src="images\CurvesNULL.png" />The Curves adjustment can
be used to adjust the colors of an image with a very high degree of control.
Curves allows you to fine tune the intensity of every shade in an image. In
particular, it can be used to highlight or dim only certain ranges of intensity
present in an image in a way that <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> and
<a href="Adjustments.html">Brightness / Contrast</a> cannot.</p>
<p>Unlike <a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> and <a href="Adjustments.html">Brightness
/ Contrast</a>, Curves can be used to freely adjust the exactly how bright each
shade of intensity in an image can be. In fact, the colors of an image can be completely inverted using curves.</p>
<h3>Interface</h3>
<p>Curves lets you remaps the colors of and image using control points on a
graph, as shown on the right and in the examples below. When the Curves
dialog first appears, it will have the graph shown on the right. This graph
is simply a function in the mathematical sense. The horizontal values are
the intensity input, and the vertical values are the intensity output.</p>
<p>Simply, this means that reshaping the right half of the curve effects the
brighter half of the image, reshaping the left half effects the darker half
of and image. Moving a curve above its default position on the diagonal
guide line will cause the affected areas to brighten, moving a curve below
its default position on the diagonal guide line will cause affected areas to
darken.</p>
<p>Control points are used to affect the curve. Control points are added by
clicking anywhere that there is not currently a control point. Control
points may be removed by right-clicking on the desired control point. To
move a control point, simple click and drag the control point to the desired
new location. Note that it is not possible to have two control points
vertically in line with each other, as this would mean that a given
intensity of color would be both brightened and darkened (which isn't
possible).</p>
<p>Below is an example of using Curves to adjust an image. The original
image is shown on the left, and the image adjusted with Curves is shown on the
right. The curve drawn in the Curves adjustment shows that the darker shades
of the image should be darkened and the lighter shades should be lightened.
The result is a picture that has deeper darks and bolder brights, while
still preserving all the definition of the original image. </p>
<p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesLuminosity.png"></p>
<p align="center">
<img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleLuminosity.jpg"></p>
<h3>Multichannel Adjustments</h3>
<p>By default, Curves uses the luminosity of an image to adjust the
intensities. Alternatively, this can be performed using the Red, Green, and
Blue channels of an image by selecting "RGB" from the drop down
list near the top of the dialog box.<br>
<br>
When this mode is selected, new control points will apply to the color channels
selected with the checkboxes near the bottom of the dialog. To work with an
individual channel or pair of channels, simple change which channels are
selected using the checkboxes.</p>
<p>The picture below has been adjusted with Curves to increase the contrast and saturation of the image,
and to specifically compensate for the already saturated portions of the dog's fur by lowering the intensity of some of the brighter reds.
Note that the image has bolder colors, deeper dark areas, and does not appear as grey as the original.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesRGB.png"></p>
<p align="center"><img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesSampleRGB.jpg"></p>
<h3>Other Possibilities</h3>
<p>As stated above, you can even use Curves to invert an image. In the
example below, a picture of a car was adjusted using Curves to produce a
result that is not possible with the other adjustments, such as
<a href="Levels.html">Levels</a> or Hue / Saturation:</p>
<p align="center"><img src="images/CurvesExtreme.png"></p>
<p align="center">
<img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWBase.jpg"> <img border="1" src="../images/CurvesBMWExtreme.jpg"></p>
<!-- #EndEditable -->
<h4><br>
<br>
</h4>
<p align="center">
<font color="#808080" size="1">Copyright <font face="Times New Roman">⌐ 2006 </font>Rick Brewster,
Chris Crosetto, Dennis Dietrich, Tom
Jackson, Michael Kelsey, Brandon Ortiz, Craig Taylor, Chris Trevino, and Luke Walker. Portions Copyright
<font face="Times New Roman">⌐ 2006 </font>Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.</font><font size="1"> <br>
</font>
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