Among the many questions that I was asked when subject of improving photos with photoshop is “What did you do to your photos that it stands out?”. Took me a while to figure out what they mean - after all, I didn’t think the photographs that I took was outstanding.

Later on, I did manage figure it out. What they mean was this:

Top: Before. Bottom: After

It’s subtle, but it gives more dramatic effect on the image. The best part? It’s only a few steps process. Let’s use the same image above for this guide.

First off, open the image in Photoshop (Note: I’m using CS3. However this should work in any version of Photoshop - in fact, most other photo editing applications as well).

Bring up the “Curves” adjustment tool. You can do this by clicking Image - Adjustments - Curves (for keyboard junkies, the shortcut key for this is Control-M, or Command-M for Macs):

Click on the image above to view full size

You will then be presented with the dialog box similar to the following:

The “Curves” dialog box

What we’re gonna do is a trick commonly known as a “S-Curve“. If you noticed, there is one diagonal line in the graph shown in the Curves dialog box. Click and drag it so it’s something like the following (you can adjust is until the image looks about right):

Adjust the Curves output

Press “OK” when you’re satisfied with the end result.

There you have it!

Here’s a few more samples of “before and after” with the S-Curve:

Each photo will need different levels of adjustments. Play around with the tool to see what values are suitable for your photos. Most important of all, do have fun!

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