Elements 4 vs CS2 and the "curves" funtion

Oakley

I chose PSE4 over CS2 primarily because of $$$ - and because I'm relatively new to the d-photo scene.

Now I know the pros in here use CS2 for the most part and that's great - but it also means that some of us PSE4 are left searching for PS functions that just don't exist in our choosen program.

One feature in particular is CURVES. I see this all over the place. I've got
Image menu -> Adjustments -> Curves engraved onto my brain - but I'm always dissapointed when I search for it in Elements 4.

So - the questions:

1) Do I really not have CURVES in E4. I just want someone to tell me NO so I can move on.

2) Does E4 have something in it that works like CURVES which I could use?

3) Is it REALLY that important???

That is all. Any thoughts/comments would be great.

David_S85

There was a Curves plugin that worked with 2 and 3, but so far, nothing for PSE4.

Oakley

David_S85 wrote:

There was a Curves plugin that worked with 2 and 3, but so far, nothing for PSE4.

Ohhh...so close!

W.W. Webster

Oakley wrote:

I've got Image menu -> Adjustments -> Curves engraved onto my brain - but I'm always dissapointed when I search for it in Elements 4...... Any thoughts/comments would be great.

I've been a satisfied Elements 2 then 3 user for some time now, but more recently I've been trying the Adobe Lightroom beta (for the Mac only at this stage) available here. It has an implementation of the Curves feature you might like to try at no cost to get some idea of what all the fuss is about. I've found the simplified version of Curves in Lightroom extremely useful and practical.

In fact, I like the look of Lightroom so much that, depending on the feature set in the final product, I'm hopeful I may be able to quit Elements for most RAW and JPEG post-production and printing, and also Portfolio for all my image management, and consolidate everything onto Lightroom.

Rohirrim

Oakley wrote:

I chose PSE4 over CS2 primarily because of $$$ - and because I'm relatively new to the d-photo scene.

Now I know the pros in here use CS2 for the most part and that's great - but it also means that some of us PSE4 are left searching for PS functions that just don't exist in our choosen program.

One feature in particular is CURVES. I see this all over the place. I've got
Image menu -> Adjustments -> Curves engraved onto my brain - but I'm always dissapointed when I search for it in Elements 4.

So - the questions:

1) Do I really not have CURVES in E4. I just want someone to tell me NO so I can move on.

2) Does E4 have something in it that works like CURVES which I could use?

3) Is it REALLY that important???

That is all. Any thoughts/comments would be great.

Curves really is a usefull feature once you get used to it. As Shay said the free plug-in does not work yet in 4.0 but there is another option. Look at these links:
http://www.earthboundlight.com/phototips/photoshop-elements-curves.html the free curves (won't work for 4.0 yet)
http://www.curvemeister.com/ - A curves plug-in that is supposed to work in 4.0, but is not free.

I don't use PS 4.0 and have never used curvemeister but it may be an option for you.

One last option is to shoot RAW and use a RAW converter that has a curves function like Rawshooter or Capture One

ziggy53

GIMP is Freeware, published under the GNU General Publish License. While it's interface is anything but "standard", it is very capable and has a curves function that works well and similarly to that function in PS.

GIMP is available for Windows and MacOSX and even Unix, so it's likely to work on most current systems.

http://www.gimp.org/

ziggy53

jfriend

Curves for elements 4

Oakley wrote:

2) Does E4 have something in it that works like CURVES which I could use?

If you are interested in curves or other tools that CS has in Elements 4, check here: http://hiddenelements.com/downloads.html.