Freeware Friday: SmartCurve

Got the blues because there are no curves in Photoshop Elements? Thanks to SmartCurve, you can get that functionality back, even in Photoshop Elements 4!

SmartCurve (for Windows)

In Photoshop Elements 4, Adobe blocked the curves function so it doesn’t work in the add-ons that were previously out there for free, like Grants Tools and Shipley’s Extras, or those you paid for like Richard Lynch’s Hidden Power.

Now you can have curves functionality again in Elements 4 (and it works in previous versions as well) and best of all, they’re free! Because SmartCurve has adjustments beyond the basic curves function of most programs, it’s also a great add in for other programs that support Photoshop plugins.

• Curves adjustment of RGB and gray images.
• Full support of 8 and 16 bits color depth.
• Use of the more common gamma correction.
• Display of the resulting histogram.
• Auto level correction by setting of shadows and highlights.
• Remove of color casts by setting of multiple midtones.
• Highlighting of clipped colors.

The Smart Curve Interface

To install SmartCurve, extract the files and put them into the Photoshop plugin folder. Reopen photoshop and you will have a new entry easy.Filter/SmartCurve in the Filter menu.

Download SmartCurve here.