Photoshop Elements never had a Curves function build-in as standard. Version 4 and later versions have a quick editor that enables the user access to the curves functionality via sliders. Version 5 and 6 have something closer to the real thing, but still limited.

Smart Curves was developed to address this weakness in Elements plus it works well.

After installing the Plug-in, this is the screen one gets when activating the Master Curves function. It is very comprehensive and allows the user a number of controls through its interface.

The advantage of working with both the levels or the curves functions during post processing is that these functions target the most basic elements of the picture to apply the changes to.

If you study the interface then you will see that it has the same three pens we discussed in the levels function in the post processing section. That enables you to accurately adjust the white balance. In the Master Curves window you can highlight the over exposed areas or the under exposed areas.

During all adjustments the histogram is showed to assist the user.

How to adjust the White Balance?

Personally I do not use the Master Curves to set the WB on pictures I edit. The reason for showing how too, is simple. With the Master Curves function you can do up to 95% of your post processing. If that’s important to you then knowing how to set the WB from here is important.

To better understand how to use the three pens in the curves function, please see the first part of the post processing article I wrote.

To set the white balance the same techniques will be applied in the Master Curves function as was used using the levels function in the post processing article.

I have the German version installed on my PC, the English version will look the same.

It has a large number of functions, personally I only use the basic curves functionality. It is possible to click Auto and in most cases I have experienced the module to do a good job of adjusting the picture.

If you decide to do the adjustments yourself then it offers a reset button that will take the picture back to its original status. In this small write up I will not explain how to use the curves function, I will only discuss a few aspects of the Master Curves that I find interesting.

As with most curves one can do one adjustment “on top” of another. For example you will set the white balance using the curves function, up the exposure a little and one would click OK. Opening the curves dialog box again to adjust the contrast is perfectly OK and so one continue applying a number of adjustments “on top” of each other.

If you decide to only adjust part of the picture, then use the lasso to select the part of the picture you like to adjust, set an appropriate feather value and open the master curves. The window will show the selection and of you can go...

How to reduce over exposure with this plug-in?

In the above picture one can see the over exposed area in the picture as seen on the right.

Use the Lasso tool to make a rough selection around the the over exposed area, go to the “Select” menu and in the drop down menu select “Feather”. Type in a value of between 20 to 120 depending on the selection size.

Last select the Master Curves function and you ready to adjust. See the picture below to see how one can reduce a over exposed area in a picture.

I increased the contrast in the picture to the left using the “S” curve in the curves window plus I upped the shadow detail a little using the slider below the curves function.

As a final step I applied sharpening in the form of un-sharp mask to the picture.

As said before, using the Master Curves function it is possible to do a complete post processing routine on a JPEG file.

Personally I enjoy the Master Curves plug-in. I would have liked if it was part of the layers adjustment pallet. That would integrate a few other good techniques with the Master Curves offer.

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