Telegram's photo editor has a Curves graph, the same control photo editors use for tone. It is the difference between making a picture brighter and making the dark parts darker while the bright parts stay where they are.
Most people never open it because the graph looks like something you need to be taught. You need one idea: the line maps input brightness to output brightness, and bending it moves one range without moving the others.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Read the curve graph — which end is shadows, which is highlights, which way is brighter.
- check_circle Add contrast without crushing detail, using the shape that does it.
- check_circle Lift blacks deliberately for a faded look, instead of fighting it by accident.
- check_circle Tint shadows and highlights separately with the colour channels.
Watch the four small circles above the graph — that is the channel selector, and it is why the same curve can change colour instead of brightness.
show_chart How to read the graph
The diagonal line is a map. Left to right along the bottom is how dark or bright a pixel currently is, from black on the left to white on the right. Bottom to top is what it becomes. A straight diagonal changes nothing: every value maps to itself.
Pull a point on the line upward and that range gets brighter. Pull it down and it gets darker. Because you are moving one point, the rest of the range follows gently rather than jumping — which is why a curve looks natural where a brightness slider looks flat.
Four shapes worth knowing
Almost every edit is one of these. Pick one and the panel says what the shape does and when it is the right answer.
check_circle S-curve — contrast
check_circle Lifted blacks — faded film
check_circle Midtone lift — rescue a dark subject
palette Colour channels — tinting
If you learn one: the gentle S. It improves most photos and rarely hurts one.
edit Finding Curves in the editor
- Attach a photo and open the preview Paperclip, pick the image, tap the thumbnail to go full screen.
- Open the adjustments The slider icon — three horizontal toggles — is in the bottom toolbar, next to the brush and the crop tool.
- Scroll to Curves It sits below Enhance, Exposure, Contrast and Warmth. The icon is a wave inside a square.
- Pick a channel, then place a point The white circle is overall brightness; Red, Green and Blue are the colour channels. Tap the line to add a point and drag it. Tap a point and drag it off the graph to remove it.
This page is how to read the graph and four shapes to start with. The curriculum step goes further into exposure recovery and how the curve interacts with the other adjustment tools.
At a glance
- 1Read the curve
Left is shadows, right is highlights; up is brighter.
- 2Contrast with an S
A gentle S-curve adds contrast without crushing detail.
- 3Colour channels
Tint shadows and highlights separately with the colour curves.
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