Editing photos using Curves

Ok, let's take a break from all the gunshots, violence and sad news. Recently, I learned more about curves and how it works. As a photography newbie into my 8th month, I realise this 'discovery' should have been made months ago as it's so useful. I used to shoot in RAW format but because it's so slow to process my files(on my pentium 3, 128mb laptop!), I've switch to jpeg.

RAW format used to give me the extra edge in adjusting my exposure and colour balance in Nikon Capture but I discovered that curves can also do almost the same job. The RGB curve helps in adjusting the lighting of my photos - the highlights(making it brighter) and the shadows(making it darker). If my colour balance is not good, I'll adjust the curves of the individual colour channels. eg: if too green(eg:flourescent lit room), adjust curve of green channel(which can be selected from the drop list) Another useful tool in Nikon Capture to help in the lighting of your photos is D-Lighting. You can try D-lighting it first before adjusting the curves. (Sometime it's better, sometimes it's not.) For my recent photos of Dom Bosco and the violence in East Timor, I've tweaked some photos using curves to make the colours more vivid.

If you want to create your own custom curves or find out more about curves, a good website to go to is Komin. There's even a free custom tone curve download for the D70 & D100 in his website. Thumbs up to ppl like him who bothers to spend time writing and posting these useful information. Arigato.

Nikon 18-200mm VR Lens

I finally got my dream lens!!!! Although many people said that a lens with a long zoom range is not good, Nikon did a very good job with this lens. It's sharp, fast and even have VR to reduce shake. The recent photos in Cameron Highlands are taken with this lens. Check it out