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Post by Tpgettys on Oct 20, 2018 4:24:21 GMT
Hi all! Here is a video tutorial about how to create a luminosity mask in PSE to enhance the light and midtones without affecting the dark parts of your image. In the first 3 minutes he talks through the ideas behind this approach, and the actually tutorial begins at about 3 minutes. I have a sneaking suspicion that this technique can be used to great effect beyond what he is targeting, but I haven't had enough time to explore it more fully. I am hoping you will show me!
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(image from Morguefile) |
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Post by Tpgettys on Oct 21, 2018 4:10:49 GMT
I have been experimenting with this idea of using a luminosity mask to control the effect of an adjustment layer. It occurred to me that by inverting the B&W mask I could reverse the image components to be effected.
In this image there is a lot of light and shadow, obscuring the subject. I followed the tutorial but inverted the B&W image before pasting it into the adjustment layer mask. I could then work on the shadows without overly impacting the lighter areas. The light areas on the face are relatively unchanged but the shadowed areas are significantly lighted.
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(Click to view full-size/clear)
Encouraged by this result I tried it again on another high-contrast image. I rather like the result! | Before | After | 
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(Click to view full-size/clear) |
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xairbusdriver
Junior Forum Member
Posts: 109 
Open to constructive criticism of photos: Yes
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Post by xairbusdriver on Oct 22, 2018 3:07:55 GMT
Great work, Tom! Good to see techniques that may use different tools even in older versions of PSE.  |
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Post by Bailey on Oct 22, 2018 3:25:36 GMT
Hi tpgettys, nice examples of luminosity masking and I am now starting to use them a little more, but more for night scenes than day scenes. But - (Click to view full-size/clear) is not quite correct. If I click your image I see just an image downsized by my browser (~1000px wide), not the full-size image. To "view full-size" I need to download your image to get the full sized 3000px x 2000px image. It's physically impossible for me to view every pixel on an image that is wider than my screen - 1920px - unless I zoom in the actual full size image to 100% in my PSE editor.
For some reason imgbb "soften" in some way some images that appear in posts. The images are not clearer in the enlargement because they are larger but because they are not softened by imgbb. |
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Post by Tpgettys on Oct 22, 2018 3:41:17 GMT
If I click your image I see just a downsized image (~1000px wide) in my browser, not the full-size. To "view full-size" I need to download your image to get the full sized 3000px x 2000px image.
For some reason imgbb "soften" in some way some images that appear in posts. The images are not clearer in the enlargement because they are larger but because they are not softened by imgbb.
Ah well; I see you are correct. In retrospect I suspect what is going on is that the image is being displayed at a resolution to achieve full-screen as opposed to full-size (which might require scrolling to view). I suppose the caption would be more accurate if it said "Click to view full screen". Thanks for the heads-up Bailey. |
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Post by Tpgettys on Oct 22, 2018 3:45:02 GMT
nice examples of luminosity masking and I am now starting to use them a little more, but more for night scenes than day scenes.
Thanks! Now that I have come to better appreciate how this technique works, I think it can be used to advantage in several challenging situations. It would seem high-contrast is the common chord, yes?
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Post by Bailey on Oct 22, 2018 3:54:31 GMT
For me, I use luminosity masks to lighten or darken areas of an image that would be difficult to make hard selections of. Yes, I would think that high contrast between the elements you want and do not want to adjust in some way would be very typical use of luminosity masks because you can more easily isolate the elements in a B&W mask.
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Post by Tpgettys on Oct 22, 2018 3:56:25 GMT
For me, I use luminosity masks to lighten or darken areas of an image that would be difficult to make hard selections of. Yes, I would think that high contrast between the elements you want and do not want to adjust in some way would be very typical use of luminosity masks because you can more easily isolate the elements in a B&W mask.
Thanks for confirming that for me Bailey, that helps. |
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Post by Bailey on Oct 22, 2018 4:59:45 GMT
Hi again tpgettys, For me, I use luminosity masks to lighten or darken areas of an image that would be difficult to make hard selections of. Yes, I would think that high contrast between the elements you want and do not want to adjust in some way would be very typical use of luminosity masks because you can more easily isolate the elements in a B&W mask. Thanks for confirming that for me Bailey , that helps. You're welcome 
If I click your image I see just a downsized image (~1000px wide) in my browser, not the full-size. To "view full-size" I need to download your image to get the full sized 3000px x 2000px image. For some reason imgbb "soften" in some way some images that appear in posts. The images are not clearer in the enlargement because they are larger but because they are not softened by imgbb. Ah well; I see you are correct. In retrospect I suspect what is going on is that the image is being displayed at a resolution to achieve full-screen as opposed to full-size (which might require scrolling to view). I suppose the caption would be more accurate if it said "Click to view full screen". Thanks for the heads-up Bailey . No problem . The topic of online image sizes is discussed further in my Sizing Images For Web Display thread. |
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Post by Bailey on Oct 23, 2018 6:41:25 GMT
On this image I used a luminosity mask to lighten up just about everything except the sky. After creating a black and white layer of the image, I inverted it so that when used as the mask for the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer, it would mask out the sky. I also painted the layer mask with various shades of grey to fine tune the mask.  After  Before |
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Post by tonyw on Oct 23, 2018 23:31:20 GMT
Another way to use a luminosity mask is to blend two versions of the same image. These could be two separate exposures to create a natural HDR blend or, since I shoot RAW and can capture a fairly high dynamic range in one shot, I more often just take one shot and then create two versions in Lightroom or ACR - one with the shadows adjusted and the other with the highlights adjusted and then blend the two. Here's an example where the original exposure underexposed the foreground and overexposed the sky but a luminosity mask made from a black and white version of the original made it very easy to blend the versions where I had corrected the exposures.  And here's what the layers looked like:  Tony |
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