One of the most vital steps in editing photos is the curves tool, allowing you to quickly and effectively change the contrast range and colours of an image with ease, But editing photos one by one can be a tedious task. Today we will be teaching you how to create and save universal curves presets for editing multiple photos effectively and easily.
(Note: you may still want to edit the RGB channel first as really dark/light photos obviously wont look as good with JUST your presets)

Step 1) Test Image

Firstly we need to set up a test image to make sure what we edit will look good in a verity of different types of images. if you like you can always use ours. http://adsocio.co/images/qxtO.jpg

Step 2) Setting up your curves

Now we're going to set up our curves layer as we normally would remember to check all the images and keep it as subtle as possible to maximise the effectiveness on as many different types of images as possible. if you would like to check out the curves we used in this you can download it here http://liamfrodsham.com/nostalgia.acv

Step 3) Saving out your preset

Firstly we need to click the in the top right of the curves pallet and click save curves preset. It should already load the curves folder and save it as something you will remember for that curve.

Step 4)Finding/selecting

now simply make a new curves layer and use the drop down box to select your curve.

would love to see some of your results feel free to post your curve presets or just your images
and finally our finished image:

the start of our adventure
since we've been together, we've hardly travelled anywhere. we're constantly planning to travel to america and europe in the next 5 years, and then eventually to asia. the furthest we've ventured is about 4 miles away, so we decided to take a day out, pack a picnic and journey our way into lancaster.

we woke up full of excitement and inspiration, we stepped out the door and the morning felt crisp, sunny and beautiful. we walked to our bus stop and waited. we had a little trouble with the buses, we paid too much and didn't know what stop was where or what was going on. that's the thing i love about these spontaneous trips - not knowing anything, not planning anything, waiting around for buses, living how life should be lived.


Some of the beautiful Victorian rooftops.

a view of the prison built in an old castle,

when we arrived in lancaster the sides of the roads were full of lush green fields, the city overwhelmed with cuture and history. it really was like taking a time machine back into the 1800s, we saw a market and a beautiful, friendly elderly woman who told us to take her picture, but she soon walked away before we had a chance.

the church from where we ate our picnic.

such a lovely view from the top of the hill.
liam and i walked into the small alleyways leading to lancaster's high street with everyday, modern shops compacted into the ancient buildings. we walked around a few of these shops, until we decided we wanted to go to a more quiet, derelict part of lancaster city. we had started to eat on some steps at the museum of childhood which looked ingruiging, but we walked on to search for lancaster castle (now a prison), which overlooked a strange looking graveyard and some autumnal trees and leaves that we kicked our way through. we ended up sat on our jackets at the bottom of a hill, under a tree with leaves floating off of it, on beautiful green, dewy, grass looking into the forest while eating our picnic. we laid back onto each other and took in how beautiful the day was.

we walked back into the city for the last time before we left, browsed around some generic shops and headed towards our bus home. liam had the camera dangling from his neck the whole time we were there, and took a fair few shots of our day out. the bus was crowded and uncomfortable, but i never feel as safe and protected when his arms around me, making everything feel right; like nothing could go wrong. we were exhausted, liam even had a short sleep on my shoulder.


just some pictures of us by the end of the day.
we arrived home. we cuddled and watched the x factor, i fell asleep on liam's chest while he was selecting and editing images. i dreamt of places where we'd go together in our lifetime.

i can't wait.

it may be cliché to begin our blog with the common phrase 'hello world', but it seemed appropriate that we introduce ourselves before we delve in to the magical realm of blogging. we're young, passionate and inspired by our daily lives, we want to create and express what we see on a daily basis. 
liam is a graphic illustrator and aspiring photographer and i'm studying graphic design at a level.


liam & hayley
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