Curvemeister
Curvemeister is specialist curve control software to manipulate images in wide gamut CMYK space. It is a Windows-based plugin for Photoshop 5 and above. It also works with all versions of Elements, so you can turn Elements into an excellent curve-machine without having to buy the full-blown version of Photoshop. It has a huge range of features, many of which are not in the host programs.
Curvemeister has a color wizard to speed up color correction; and a threshold function to locate shadows/highlights and to identify areas where the color is clipped. It has switching between color spaces on-the-fly; a "hue clock" to help you judge colors such as skin tones; multiple curve adjustment; optional histogram overlay; corner-fill; curve rotation; and plenty of tutorial help.
Once you have created a curve, it can be yours forever -- because the program saves every curve automatically, allowing you to look it up by date, time, and image file name. Curvemeister gives you a choice of working in different color spaces then returning the file to Photoshop in RGB.
One particularly innovative feature is the hue clock which displays copies of a one-handed clock to show the hue and saturation of any part of the image. When you click on a small group of pixels, the clock displays the color across its face while the hand indicates the level of RGB/CMY. You just have to remember the appropriate "time" (color) for skin, sky or foliage, and you can see instantly if any correction is needed.
Comment
Mike Russell's Curvemeister is highly regarded by imaging experts. For a start, it gives you a choice of working in different color spaces then returning the file to Photoshop in RGB. Wide gamut CMYK (wgCMYK) is excellent for adjusting shadows; Lab is preferable for adjusting highlights, brightness and saturation.
Curvemeister has many other useful features, some of which you probably won't use very often -- but they come in handy for special images that you may plan to enlarge and display.
Tech info
- Plugs into: Photoshop; Elements
- OS: 2000 onward
- Price level: Approx. $90; Elements version $44.
Mike Russell
Curvemeister.com was founded in March 2002 by Michael Russell, a graphics software engineer living in Berkeley, California. His software is sold via (order.kagi.com).
From the same vendor:
- Curvemeister 3 for Elements
- Curvemeister 3 for Photoshop and Elements
- upgrades
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