Quick Look: Refine Saturation in Curves
In the June 2023 Lightroom update, Adobe added a Refine Sat slider to the Tone Curve tool.
This is a welcome change for two reasons:
Unlike luma-based curves [1], adding contrast through an RGB curve automatically alters saturation levels, which typically requires further adjustments through either Saturation or Vibrance.
Unlike Vibrance, this new slider is available when using Tone Curve on masks. This adds finer colour control at the local level.
I was curious to compare results from each option (Refine Sat, Saturation, and Vibrance). Below is a very uninspired image to which I've added a much too intense curve for demonstration purposes:
As you can see, saturation levels are way too hot. Now here are three tweaked versions, each using a different tool to compensate:
In order from left to right: Refine Sat, Vibrance, and Saturation.
Needless to say, it's possible to achieve very similar results regardless of the tool we use. But 1) the Refine Sat adjustment is more granular, and 2) it alters saturation through contrast. This is hard to tell from these web versions, but the Refine Sat image shows slightly less aggressive highlights/shadows, and more subtle gradation.
That said, the headlining feature for me is the ability to create these adjustments locally: it's much quicker AND it saves having to add additional masks to accomplish the same task. This will be particularly useful on portrait work, which is usually better served by Luma curves.
Oh and we have local grain now too...I mean, why not?
;)
………………..
If you've never read it this post looks at the Luma Curve tool in C1, and explains the difference between the two.
