8 Reasons to NEVER Use Levels in Photoshop!
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Date: 2022-07-19
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Comments and reviews: 19
Fernando
Great explanation, as usual. Just one question: in Curves, is there a key that allows to do the same thing as in Levels to see when you are reaching the point of oversaturating everything? I mean, in Levels if you hold ALT while dragging the controls you will see the zones of the image that will get oversaturated (either with black, white or any color. You might say that in Curves you will not reach a point of oversaturating because of the nature of the curve and if the curve goes flat it will obviously be oversaturated. But I still miss the hold ALT feature in Levels.
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Great explanation, as usual. Just one question: in Curves, is there a key that allows to do the same thing as in Levels to see when you are reaching the point of oversaturating everything? I mean, in Levels if you hold ALT while dragging the controls you will see the zones of the image that will get oversaturated (either with black, white or any color. You might say that in Curves you will not reach a point of oversaturating because of the nature of the curve and if the curve goes flat it will obviously be oversaturated. But I still miss the hold ALT feature in Levels.
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Jeffrey
Not useless. I once worked for a printer, and we used levels religiously. For a certain press, blacks couldn't be darker than 5 and whites couldn't be lighter than 255. The dot density of that printer and the color of the paper required it. Allowing full black would affect drying time. We were doing a yearbook and we ran all the photos through a levels batch. The photos looked the same to the eye, but there was no problem with drying time.
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Not useless. I once worked for a printer, and we used levels religiously. For a certain press, blacks couldn't be darker than 5 and whites couldn't be lighter than 255. The dot density of that printer and the color of the paper required it. Allowing full black would affect drying time. We were doing a yearbook and we ran all the photos through a levels batch. The photos looked the same to the eye, but there was no problem with drying time.
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pedzsan
It would be interesting to review the history. Did levels come out first and then some bright guy said Hey! We could give the user access to the entire line instead of just three points. But seriously, Ive not used PS for a long time since LR came out but when I did use it, I used levels more than curves because it was simpler and I could do what I needed quicker. yes, it was less powerful but sometimes thats a good thing.
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It would be interesting to review the history. Did levels come out first and then some bright guy said Hey! We could give the user access to the entire line instead of just three points. But seriously, Ive not used PS for a long time since LR came out but when I did use it, I used levels more than curves because it was simpler and I could do what I needed quicker. yes, it was less powerful but sometimes thats a good thing.
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Ken
You hit the nail right on the head in point #7. My biggest issue with PS is there are like 10 different ways to get the same result. This makes the user interface very complex and the learning curve very steep. Anytime I can eliminate a tool in PS just saves me time in learning and in my workflow. I really like your teaching style and the content of your videos is appropriate and the quality is superb.
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You hit the nail right on the head in point #7. My biggest issue with PS is there are like 10 different ways to get the same result. This makes the user interface very complex and the learning curve very steep. Anytime I can eliminate a tool in PS just saves me time in learning and in my workflow. I really like your teaching style and the content of your videos is appropriate and the quality is superb.
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Stratelier
The flipside is that for simple, broad adjustments the simpler tool can be just faster to use (sometimes even by magnitudes. Just as a traditional painter likely wouldn't claim that the greater precision of a small paintbrush renders their larger brushes redundant, right?
Also, yes, GIMP is commonly pronounced with the hard G (as in ghost.
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The flipside is that for simple, broad adjustments the simpler tool can be just faster to use (sometimes even by magnitudes. Just as a traditional painter likely wouldn't claim that the greater precision of a small paintbrush renders their larger brushes redundant, right?
Also, yes, GIMP is commonly pronounced with the hard G (as in ghost.
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ClickMe
dont see the same curves in premiere pro. just basic curves in the obsolete effects folder. no color picker etc. so mmuch easier to just use fast color corrector but they made that absolete too. too many handles just to do simple stuff. good if your doing 1 image do a hundred and you will see the beauty in simplicity.
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dont see the same curves in premiere pro. just basic curves in the obsolete effects folder. no color picker etc. so mmuch easier to just use fast color corrector but they made that absolete too. too many handles just to do simple stuff. good if your doing 1 image do a hundred and you will see the beauty in simplicity.
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Anzela
The only reason I use levels is because the graph and sliders are displayed in a more convenient way for quick editing, I mainly use it for improving scanned document visibility. With curves you have to take extra steps to get there and I was only using it for photo editing before learning Lightroom.
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The only reason I use levels is because the graph and sliders are displayed in a more convenient way for quick editing, I mainly use it for improving scanned document visibility. With curves you have to take extra steps to get there and I was only using it for photo editing before learning Lightroom.
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Erik
Wow! Wonderful and enlightening tutorial. Thank you. Do not ever think that the levels of detail that you go into is not appreciated - even if one has to rewind lots of times to let it all finally sink in. You are saving us all worlds of time, effort and energy.
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Wow! Wonderful and enlightening tutorial. Thank you. Do not ever think that the levels of detail that you go into is not appreciated - even if one has to rewind lots of times to let it all finally sink in. You are saving us all worlds of time, effort and energy.
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John
Just because you don't use Levels doesn't mean they are useless.
I refurbish scanned old comic books. Due to the limited number of colours and high contrast, Curves would be total overkill, whereas Levels is perfect for this kind of job, so never say never.
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Just because you don't use Levels doesn't mean they are useless.
I refurbish scanned old comic books. Due to the limited number of colours and high contrast, Curves would be total overkill, whereas Levels is perfect for this kind of job, so never say never.
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Duarte
In conservation of film i use curves and levels, not everything is a comercial pop photo for the masses. Nowadays everything about photography looks like not real photography and somebody selling you what they think instead the real uses and applications.
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In conservation of film i use curves and levels, not everything is a comercial pop photo for the masses. Nowadays everything about photography looks like not real photography and somebody selling you what they think instead the real uses and applications.
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Silver
I've been using only curves from the start for all the reasons, but that guy is just easy to fallow just grand at simplifying things that are not that simple. But the effort he ise putting in hes own face is level GOD.
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I've been using only curves from the start for all the reasons, but that guy is just easy to fallow just grand at simplifying things that are not that simple. But the effort he ise putting in hes own face is level GOD.
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kingdavidjapan
Agreed. The only potential use I see for Levels is when working with 32bit files (older versions of PS didn't have 32bit curves. Even then, there's a better choice though, Exposure.
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Agreed. The only potential use I see for Levels is when working with 32bit files (older versions of PS didn't have 32bit curves. Even then, there's a better choice though, Exposure.
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Ciaran
I'm poor and use Photoshop Elements, so I have to do the best I can with Levels, as although there is a Color Curves option it's very restrictive and I don't find it very versatile.
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I'm poor and use Photoshop Elements, so I have to do the best I can with Levels, as although there is a Color Curves option it's very restrictive and I don't find it very versatile.
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John
I don't think levels is useless. It's a simple tool for beginners, less intimidating. Curves is superior and I think they will all come to see that some point in time.
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I don't think levels is useless. It's a simple tool for beginners, less intimidating. Curves is superior and I think they will all come to see that some point in time.
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ouss_mco
Used to be friends with curves but switched to levels a while back, looks like I have 16 minutes of reasons ahead of me to destroy this long lasting friendship.
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Used to be friends with curves but switched to levels a while back, looks like I have 16 minutes of reasons ahead of me to destroy this long lasting friendship.
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kishor
Unmesh: 8 Reasons to NEVER Use Levels in Photoshop!
Levels: Why do you hate me so much? :(
Unmesh: I don't hate you, you're just not that better. :
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Unmesh: 8 Reasons to NEVER Use Levels in Photoshop!
Levels: Why do you hate me so much? :(
Unmesh: I don't hate you, you're just not that better. :
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XENOSYS
I already knew everything he said in this video, from his other videos, but it's just so soothing to watch him talk about curves so enthusiastically
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I already knew everything he said in this video, from his other videos, but it's just so soothing to watch him talk about curves so enthusiastically
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Edward
You should make a full video of the watercolour effect tutorial (starting around 11: 00) -- it was very difficult for me to find this again!
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You should make a full video of the watercolour effect tutorial (starting around 11: 00) -- it was very difficult for me to find this again!
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itech
Dear Mr. Dindigul, I really enjoyed this video then more your videos till I have seen. Obsoletly you are great. Thanks for this video. Sathiyan
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Dear Mr. Dindigul, I really enjoyed this video then more your videos till I have seen. Obsoletly you are great. Thanks for this video. Sathiyan
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