HOW TO USE THE TONE CURVE IN LIGHTROOM (Tone Curve Explained!)

Don't let the tone curve intimidate you! Learn how to use the Tone Curve In Lightroom and unlock a ton of powerful editing features in this comprehensive Lightroom Tutorial.
The tone curve looks scary - But once you learn to master this Lightroom develop tool you'll be miles ahead in your photo editing. Today we're going to look at what the tone curve is for, how to use the tone curve, and adding effects such as filmic fade and split toning.
The tone curve is an essential part of Lightroom - And with a few quick tricks you'll be ready to edit better photos and never get confused by the tone curve again.
There are actually a few reasons you'd use the tone curve instead of other settings:
REASON 1) it allows for SELECTIVE contrast. With the contrast slider you have one set way to add contrast - Its either on or off. With the tone curve, you can add contrast in a specific portion of your image without affecting other portions - add more contrast in JUST the highlights, or JUST the mid tones etc.
REASON 2) the tone curve RGB panel lets you control the levels of blacks and whites to reduce contrast. The contrast slider only allows you to ADD contrast.
REASON 3) the tone curve lets you set custom black points and white point, allowing you to add a filmic feel to your images and dial in the exact amount of fade you want.
REASON 4) the red, green and blue portions of the tone curve allow you to do all of this with SPECIFIC color channels - Which means you can tweak color balance in your image, add / remove tones in specific areas (darken greens in JUST the shadows for instance) - Whereas the hsl panel luminance only lets you darken / brighten the greens as a whole.

Overall the reason is for more control & targeted adjustments. There are a LOT of things you can do with the tone curve - Many of which can't be done anywhere else in Lightroom.

One last fun fact:
the truth is there are no primary colors of light! RGB are NOT the primary colors that make up visible Light. In fact, there is no intrinsic color in light at all (how crazy is that?!) - There are only colors in our perception of certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. The reason we use 3 primary colors is because we have 3 different color receptors in the human eye. NOT because light is composed of 3 main colors. Red Green and Blue are simply the colors that our color receptors are most sensitive to, which is why we call them primary. But truly, there are no primary colors of light. Only primary colors we are most sensitive to.

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📸 My current photography gear:

When I'm working away from home, I use a 2015 15" macbook pro with 16gb of ram - So you don't NEED the brand new fancy computer... It just speeds up the performance and snappiness of Lightroom so you're not waiting so long for previews to load or images to export etc.

Recommended laptop:
💻 13 inch S1 Macbook Pro $1249 USD

The new S1 Macbook Air and S1 Macbook Pros are AMAZING for photo editing and Lightroom Performance, even with their base model options

With the new M1 macbooks, 8gb RAM works. With any other machine, I'd recommend going with at least 16gb of ram and 512gb of storage if you can swing it.

[SignatureEdits]

**Wondering why not just use the other tools in Lightroom instead of the tone curve?**
There are actually a few reasons you'd use the tone curve instead of other settings:

*REASON 1)* it allows for SELECTIVE contrast. With the contrast slider you have one set way to add contrast - Its either on or off. With the tone curve, you can add contrast in a specific portion of your image without affecting other portions - add more contrast in JUST the highlights, or JUST the midtones etc.

*REASON 2)* the tone curve RGB panel lets you control the levels of blacks and whites to reduce contrast. The contrast slider only allows you to ADD contrast.

*REASON 3)* the tone curve lets you set custom black points and white point, allowing you to add a filmic feel to your images and dial in the exact amount of fade you want.

*REASON 4)* the red, green and blue portions of the tone curve allow you to do all of this with SPECIFIC color channels - Which means you can tweak color balance in your image, add / remove tones in specific areas (darken greens in JUST the shadows for instance) - Whereas the hsl panel luminance only lets you darken / brighten the greens as a whole.

Overall the reason is for more control & targeted adjustments. There are a LOT of things you can do with the tone curve - Many of which can't be done anywhere else in Lightroom.

[tayynellee]

this was the MOST informative and actually helpful video on tone curves I've ever seen. I feel like I finally truly understand it

[Mike_Barker]

I have to agree with everyone here. I understood the tone curve for the most part, but your clarity and voice actually kept me watching the entire video. Very well done!

[cocktailroads]

I went to professional photography school. I worked in this field for 10 years. I always avoided the curve, cause I didn't understand it and was able to go around without it. And in just 11 minutes, you just made it very clear and memorable. Your video should me mandatory in school.... (we had a 6 hours class on just that). I now understand how it works. Thanks a lot!

[ManavMadaan]

I have watched a fuckton of videos both from professional photography courses to the youtube videos available. no one was able to give me more clarity on what tone curve does and how to start using this. This video is THE ONE VIDEO which has made me understand the tone curve finally.

[veemes]

This is the most incredible tutorial ever.... literally. Explaining how it actually works and what it does, instead of just going in and moving the points. THANK YOU.

[raymondmartinez]

I've watched DOZENS of tone curve videos and this has been the most helpful and clear video. most people just say "make an s curve and you have aesthetics" but this video shows each and ever detail. Thanks SO much.

[tbroms]

I have tried to learn about tone curves a bazillion times and THIS is the first time I understood them! THANK YOU!

[cassidycarter]

I was literally just thinking that I am so new to Lightroom and I NEED to understand Tone Curve better and this popped up on my YouTube sidebar. You are an amazing teacher! Thank you so much!

[sarahaw]

I cant believe i finally found a channel where I can watch tutorials without getting bored. this is one of the most helpful and informative video i have ever watched! thank you so much. your explanations suit me very well. thank you so much.

[sydneycranford]

MIND. BLOWN. I think this is the first time I have ever understood the Tone Curve. Thank you SO much for making this!

[A_Rotisserie_Chicken]

I never knew the tone curve could do all that! My mouth dropped when you edited that ocean photo and all you did was mess with the tone curve. Mind = blown.

[crushergo]

Omg i can’t believe after I watched so many videos. It’s just now that I understand the use if tone curves 😱 you are so awesome!

[ariffinwahaha]

Best tone curve ever. Ure the master of tone curve in the whole of youtube. Deserves a million view

[Bonecrusherdl]

Thanks for subtitles!! Im always watching this videos at work without sound

[cnw]

In all the Lightroom tutorials I've seen, I've never seen this explained. Thank you.

[AbiogenesisGaming]

This is probably one of the best tutorial videos on Lightroom I've ever watched. This makes understanding tone curve so easy and simple. Thank you!

[AlejoStorni]

Finally a video that clearly explains the tone curves!!! I knew the basics but was afraid to play with the individual channels. Thank you

[rudravisual]

Excellent tutorial. There are so many convoluted blog posts about tone curves, but this demonstrates tone curves so succinctly.

[nickstersss]

Got to be hands down the most straightforward yet detailed and simple enough video to teach us Tone Curve and show real world practical!! Thank