We’re onto day six now, and slowly moving along to Phlearn and Aaron Nace’s photoshop series. Today’s lesson is all about how to use Levels and Curves in your images.

Personally, I actually do use levels and curves in most of my image adjustments, and in particular, photos. I don’t tend to use them so much in graphics that I make, but the cool thing about levels and curves is that you can apply them to just about anything.

The first part of the lesson is understanding what levels and curves do when you apply them as an adjustment layer to an image. Aaron gives you an excellent explanation of what they are and how they can impact your overall picture.

The second part of the lesson is using what we learned and applying it to a sample image provided in the course. So we are basically turning this standard stock image into something prettier and ready for social media.

Here’s the slideshow so you can see how the very subtle changes to levels and curves in the image makes it look a lot more vibrant and ready for social media:

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It’s really very easy once you get the hang of it and editing your family photos will become something of an exciting task rather than a chore. Who wants dull and lifeless images on their Instagram? Nobody! But you don’t need to be a photoshop guru to make your images come alive! And filters can only do so much. Wouldn’t you rather have the skills to make your images look better yourself? This is the perfect lesson if you want to take your photos to the next level.

You can access the lesson here complete with video tutorial, text explanation and instruction, and the practice sample image to use in Photoshop.

And as always, keep safe out there and remember to keep creating!

If you like my Photoshop posts, you can check out more of them right here.

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