# Basic Controls and Tone Curve



## grbba (Nov 30, 2012)

Hello,

if I understood right basic controls and the tone curve are two facets of the same thing in the back ground. If this is true why
does the tone curve graph stay linear when i move the basic control sliders ?

What happens if I move the basic sliders and then set let say "medium contrast" on the tone curve? Does that setting apply 
on top of the basic settings ( and if so in which way ? ) or does it replace them ?

Probably i have a fundamental misunderstanding here of the working of LR ...

Have a nice day

Gregor


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## Tony Jay (Nov 30, 2012)

Hi Gregor.

Actually it is pretty simple: the two sets of controls work independently of each other - so changing the tone control sliders doesn't change the tone curve and vica versa.

Tony Jay


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## bobrobert (Dec 1, 2012)

Changing both is cumulative. The tone curve is for finessing an image. If I raise the contrast on an image then the whole image is affected. What I sometimes do instead is to use the Tone curve and raise the lights by +10 and lower the darks by -10. ( you can use more or less adjustments ) Look at the curve afterwards and you see the straight line has a curve. This - imo - adds a little punch to the mide tones without affecting the whites and blacks.


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## johnbeardy (Dec 1, 2012)

Use the Basic Panel first, then if necessary use the Tone Curve. They are not "two facets of the same thing" and the Basic Panel sliders are mostly "adaptive", reacting to areas of the image, while the Tone Curve controls that tone's global rendering.


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## grbba (Dec 5, 2012)

Thanks all for your replies. As i understand it now is both are independent and add up to each other. As i understand this the results are not the same if i first start with 
the basic panel and then use the tone curve or the other way around. I will follow the advice to first start using the basic controls and then use the tone curve.

One question though I never seem be able to produce the results from the tone curve "middle contrast" selection using the basic panel but reading :



> Use the Basic Panel first, then if necessary use the Tone Curve. They  are not "two facets of the same thing" and the Basic Panel sliders are  mostly "adaptive", reacting to areas of the image, while the Tone Curve  controls that tone's global rendering.



i understand that will be difficult as both don't work on the same set of tonal values of the image.

//
Gregor


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