File Under... Photoshop Geek-out

Solar Curves:

I guess people started calling these things "solar" curves because they can make an image seem "solarized". Its not really what they're used for though.

The idea is to make a curve that racks the color information of an image so much that it exposes parts of the image that you don't normally see. I have two different curve presets that I use regularly. One I call "Solar" and one I call "Dusted".

You can download them here.

"Solar" is a wild curve with a very regular wave pattern and "Dusted" has an irregular wave pattern.

Notice how "Solar" turns some areas black and "Dusted" turns those same areas white. Also notice how one pushes the neutral background toward magenta, and the other pushes it toward green.

The biggest benefit of using these curves is that they make retouching mistakes very apparent. Note the poorly retouched hair edges. They're also helpful to expose things like lens dust, patterns, or irregularities in gradients and very dark or very light areas.

If you use both curves together, it makes the image very dusty looking. Which other than a nod to Guided By Voices, is where the name "Dusted" comes from.

Another easy way to get a similar effect is to set a curve adjustment layer to exclusion blending mode - and maybe add an invert adjustment layer above it.