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Tone Curve


daisy girl

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Hi All! Really glad there's a forum for us noobs.

I'm trying to reverse engineer an edit I really love in photoshop "file info" Camera Raw Properties, and I've been able to understand everything until the part where it read "ToneCurvePV2012"

There rest goes something like this:
[1]: 0, 38
[2]: 17, 43
[3]: 24, 49
[4]: 51, 57
[5]: 68, 66

and so on until [16]. What does this mean and how can I apply these curves to photoshop or lightroom?

Thank you!
 

Tom Mann

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If I understand what you're trying to do, you want to use the same preset that was applied to an older picture to a new picture, possibly modifying it a bit before use. Is that correct?

So, instead of trying to reverse engineer all of the details from the text file, why don't you simply open the old file either in ACR or Light Room, and then make a preset out of it? You can then apply that preset either as is, or modified, to any new image.

Am I missing something?

Sincerely,

Tom M
 

Tom Mann

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Let me be more specific. When I said modify the preset, one of the things I had in mind was zeroing all the other controls except the tone curve. That way only the tone curve settings from your earlier image will be applied, which is, I believe, exactly what you want to do.

The probability of correctly copying the settings using the user interfaces that Adobe supplies, ie, ACR & LR, is vastly higher than if u attempt to modify an XMP file manually, using a text editor, even if u are a seasoned XML programmer.

T
 

Tom Mann

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PS - If u *really* want to know the syntax of the tone curves section of the XMP data, I can help u with that, as well.

T
 

Tom Mann

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Hi Daisy -

I just responded to your PM. As I mentioned in my PM, because other folks may be interested in this discussion, lets discuss it on the forum instead of by PM / email for as long as is possible.

WRT not being familiar with xml and xmp files, that's absolutely fine for the moment. I would discourage anyone that isn't an expert from modifying them. I thought you might be familiar with them because in years of answering Photoshop questions on various internet discussion forums and newsgroups, you are the first person who ever asked how to interpret the tone curve section of the file.

Anyway, to get started, the first thing you need to do is open your "reference" file (ie, the one whose processing you want to apply to other files) in either LR or ACR. Next, go to the "tone curves" tab and see if the curve is something other than a straight line. If it is, you are in luck. While you are at it, browse thru the other tabs and see which of them are not at their default settings.

Let me know the result of this little investigation.

Tom
 

daisy girl

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Hi Tom,

Thanks for helping me out with this!

So I've opened the image in Lightroom, and the "tone curves" tab is a straight line, all settings are at default setting as well, everything is 0. The only information I see is the camera info in the top Histogram tab.
 

Tom Mann

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Hum ... That's odd. Are you sure this is the same file that gave upthose torn curve numerical data points
?
 

Tom Mann

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If it's a jpg, just attach it to a post in this forum. If it's some other type of file, either try zipping it first, or send me a PM and I'll give you my direct email address.

Cheers,

Tom
 

Tom Mann

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Off-topic - re: "...that gave upthose torn curve..."

Sheesh, I hate the bizarre things that the combination of text-to-speech and autocorrect on my iPhone manages to come up with.

That sentence should have said, "... Are you sure this is the same file that gave you numerical values for a tone curve..."

Arghhh! LOL!

Tom
 

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