Table of

Contents
Introduction

What You’ll Need For There Tutorials

Basic Knowledge of Photoshop

Chapter 1

Essential Luminosity Masks Tutorial for Beginners

Chapter 2

How To Blend Exposures With Luminosity Masks in Photoshop

Chapter 3

How To Deal With Moving Objects in Exposure Blending

Chapter 4

How To Shoot for Exposure Blending

Chapter 5

How Many Exposures Do We Need For Exposure Blending

Chapter 6

Luminosity Masks — Why Can't I Paint Inside The Selection?

Since you're reading this luminosity masks tutorial, you've probably already
stumbled across the term 'luminosity masks' and are wondering what on
Earth these elusive things are. And more importantly, how you can use
them in your digital workflow to come out with more beautiful photography.

The good news is, you've arrived at the right place. I've been teaching
luminosity masks to eager photographers around the globe for years. And
this tutorial will not only show you exactly how they work and how to create
them, it will also guide you through their uses.

If you're looking for something more advanced, visit part 2 of this guide:
How To Exposure Blend With Luminosity Masks.

And at the very end of this section you will see the other parts in this
6-part luminosity mask guide.

For a complete course which covers everything

you'll need in your photography
— including advanced luminosity masking —
see my most popular course:

The Art of Photography

Click For More Info

What You'll Need For These Tutorials

1. Luminosity Mask Software

It's essential that you have a good luminosity mask panel to create masks
for you. In this luminosity mask tutorial, I will show you how to make basic
masks in Photoshop. But just as we don't need to understand the
algorithm behind a Curves layer to make a good contrast adjustment, we
don't need to learn the more complicated luminosity mask processes —
like intersecting brights and darks to get mid-tone masks — in order to
use them effectively.
Much better, and quicker, just to press a button and have one created for
you. If you don't have a luminosity mask generator, that's okay. I've got a
couple for you.

FREE Option Premium Option

- Easy Panel - - Raya Pro-

You can download my Easy Panel
for free which, with over 100,000
downloads, is probably the most
used 16 bit Luminosity Mask panel
in the world.
Raya Pro, used by over 25,000
photographers. It's also a total
workflow solution, where you can
access advanced PS features with
just one click.

Click For More Info Click For More Info

Easy Panel Video Raya Pro Video

2. Basic Knowledge of Photoshop

After you've chosen your Luminosity Mask panel, you will need one
more thing: a basic understanding of Photoshop.

If you're new to Photoshop, don't worry: I've got you covered. You can
download my free (It really is free). It’s a comprehensive 2-hour

Beginner's Photoshop Video Course.

The link to this is included when you signed up for this guide.

With those two things ready, let's carry on with the luminosity masks
tutorial.

What’s Covered – Photoshop Beginner Course?

The short answer is: A huge amount

We cover a lot of ground. So even Though this is a two-hour course,

you will learn a huge amount in those two hours. We pride ourselves on
bringing high-quality FREE Photoshop Beginners Tutorials. Everybody
needs to start somewhere.

FREE Photoshop
Beginner’s Course

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“We can help guide you to learn Photoshop”

 1

CHAPTER ONE

Essential Luminosity Masks

Tutorial for Beginners
Table of
Contents
What Are Luminosity Masks

Why Are Luminosity Masks Useful?

What is Masking?

How Do You Create Luminosity Masks?

How To Use Luminosity Masks

How To Make a More Targeted Mask

What Other Layers Can We Apply Luminosity Masks to?

Luminosity Mask FAQ

 What Are Luminosity Masks?

Put simply, luminosity masks are selections based on brightness.

They allow us to select — and make changes to — bright, dark or
mid-tones in our image. This opens up a whole new world of
processing, not to mention an effective way to blend exposures.

For example, below you can see one colour image and three
monochromes. The monochromes are luminosity masks. Whatever
is white or grey in the mask is a 'selected' area, meaning any
changes we make will only affect those areas. The lighter the grey
the more affected that area will be. Dark areas will be unaffected by
any changes.
Why are Luminosity Masks Useful?

Let's say we want to add more contrast to an image, but we don't

want to affect the shadows because they'll become clipped. We just
want to add contrast to the highlights and mid-tones.

The Brights 1 mask you saw on the last page can be added to a
Curves layer where we've made a simple S-Curve. That will give the
photo a contrast punch but keep our shadows nicely exposed.

The top image

is the before
image, and the
bottom image
is after the S-
Curve is
applied.

The effect is a
little strong
here,
threatening to
overexpose the
highlights, but
it's just for
demonstration
purposes.

Notice how the

shadows are
completely
unaffected by
the Curves
layer.
 What is Masking?

That's a little bit more basic for this luminosity masks tutorial, but
essentially masking is a non-destructive way of interacting with
layers in Photoshop.

Photoshop came up with Masking to fix this solution. With Masking

we erase something (make it invisible) but can very quickly bring that
erased area back at any time (make it visible again). We do this by
using the Paint Brush, and the colours Black and White.

This is where things can get confusing. There’s no logical reason

why the colours Black and White should be associated with erasing
and un-erasing. So we have to suspend our logic for a moment.

The rules of Masking are: White = Visible, Black = Invisible. In other

words, if you want to erase something, make sure your foreground
colour is set to black. Conversely,
if you want to un-erase something, you need to
have white as your foreground colour.

For a better understanding:

Download my Beginner's Photoshop course.

Or click on the video link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGbclaqw3c

Or follow the written tutorial here: What is Masking in Photoshop?

 How Do You Create Luminosity
Masks?
The old way to create luminosity masks involved a more complex
method of working within the Channels palette. We've largely moved
on from that in favour of quicker, less resource-hungry processes.
But if you're curious, click on the video below to see the older
method.

This is the most basic, easiest and most common way to make
Luminosity mask in Photoshop. We use the Channels tab.

First, open an image in Adobe Photoshop. Go to the Channels tab

usually found next to the Layers tab. Once your in Channels you
should see what looks like 4 layers RGB, Red, Green, Blue. Hold down
the Ctrl key on a PC or Command key on a Mac, and left-click on the
RGB thumbnail. That will give you an active selection based on 50%
brightness. Go back to your image in the layers tab and select the
image layer. Now click on the Add a Mask icon at the bottom of the
layers panel. A mask will be applied to your image based on the
selection determined by luminosity.
The Newer Way To Create Luminosity
Masks?
We have a few different ways to create luminosity masks.
To make a basic one it's a fairly simple process.

But first, feel free to click on the image in the

Background to download it. We will use this as
our practice photo.

Step 1 — After loading your photo into Photoshop, create a Curves

Layer.

In your layers panel you should now have a new layer called Curves 1 (or something
similar).
Step 2 — Select the white mask of the Curves layer.
Step 3 — Go to the top menu in Photoshop called Image, then down
to Apply Image.

Step 4 — Mask sure your settings are the same as mine (ignore the
'guilin copy.jpg' name. Yours will be different) and press OK.
That's it! You've created a luminosity mask. If you look at the mask of
the Curves layer you'll see it's no longer white. It should now be a little
black and white thumbnail of your photo.

To look at your mask, hold Alt (Option on a Mac) and left-click on the
Curves layer mask. This will make it large on the screen. Your mask
should look like this:

This is what we call a Brights 1 mask because it's targeting the

brighter parts of the image. Remember that whatever is white or grey
in the mask is part of the selection. Since the mountains are dark in
the mask, they are not selected.
 How To Use Luminosity Masks?

So we have a Brights 1 luminosity mask now sitting on our layer but

what next? What do we do with it?

First of all, why don't we turn that Brights 1 mask into a darks 1 mask.
Just click on the mask and press Ctrl+I (Command+I on a Mac).
Or go to Image>Adjustments>Invert. Now you should have a mask
that looks like this:

With this new Darks 1 mask, let's create a targeted contrast that
brightens up the shadows but doesn't affect the highlights.

Step 1 — Click on the Curves layer icon to bring up the curve.

Step 2 — Select the lower mid-tones and raise them a bit. Our image,
especially the shadows,
should be brighter now.

Step 3 — To see what effect the mask is having, right-click on the

mask and choose Disable
Mask. Watch the main
image as you do this.
Then to activate the mask again just click on the black and white
thumbnail and see the difference. Here's what mine looks like

This top
image is from
before we
added the
curves layer.

The
brightening
effect is subtly
applied to the
shadows.

Notice how
the shadows
are slightly
brighter. It’s
easier to see
on the peaks
in the
foreground.
How To Make a More Targeted Masks?

As you can see, quite a few mid-tones are affected by this mask
because it is a general mask. What if we want to make a much more
targeted adjustment so only the shadows were affected? That's
easy.

Step 1 — Hold Alt (Option Mac) and left-click the mask again to make
it large on the screen.

Step 2 — Go back to Image>Apply Image. Your settings should be the

same as last time, but now you check the Invert button. Since we're
working with darks masks, we use the invert button. If we were
making a more targeted brights mask, we would not have Invert
selected.
Step 3 — Look at your new mask. Notice how mainly the shadows are
selected (white and light grey) and far fewer mid-tones are selected.
This is a darks 2 mask.

Left is the darks 1 mask from earlier. Right is darks 2.

Step 4 — Do the process again. Image>Apply Image and press OK.

Look at the mask once more, which is now a darks 3 mask. Only a
narrow range of shadows are now selected in the photo.

Darks 2 to the left. The new darks 3 to the right.

Darks 1 Darks 2 Darks 3

Step 5 — Toggle the mask on and off (disabling it with right-click and
Disable Mask) to see the difference it is making to your Curves layer.

You should now notice that only darkest parts of the image are being
affected by the contrast adjustment.

Darks 1

Darks 2

Darks 3

So as you can see, luminosity masks allow us to make extremely fine

changes to our image that we couldn't have made without such a
targeted mask.
 What Other Layers Can We
Apply Luminosity Masks to?
We can use luminosity masks on pretty much any layer we want.
Take a look at the videos below

Bring out beautiful warmth and vibrancy in a sunset.

You could be even more creative and pull out some beautiful warmth
and vibrance from your golden hour sky just as I did in the video below.

Craft the perfect Orton Effect

Or you could use a mask to target things like the Orton Effect.
 Luminosity Mask
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What version of Photoshop do luminosity masks work with?
A: Luminosity masks have been available since Photoshop CS3, but
panels like Raya Pro and the Easy Panel work in later versions (CS6 and
CC).

Q: Do luminosity masks work in Lightroom?

A: No, just Photoshop and other similar image processors.

Q: Is luminosity masking hard to learn?

A: Of all the post-processing tools available to us, luminosity masks are
certainly more advanced. But I believe, with a little patience, that
anyone can learn to use the.

Q: Are luminosity masks 8 bit or 16 bit tools?

A: Both. Set your workspace to whichever you like and the luminosity
masks created will reflect that. But 16 bit luminosity masks will be
higher quality.

Q: Aren't active selections 8 bit in Photoshop?

A: That's right. All active selections, which we haven't covered in this
tutorial, are 8 bit. So if you make a selection from a 16 bit luminosity
mask, the resulting selection will be 8 bit.
 FREE FREE
Photoshop Beginner’s Easy Panel
Course For Photoshop

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BEST SELLER Premium Option

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 2

CHAPTER TWO

How To Blend Exposures

With Luminosity Masks in
Photoshop
Table of
Contents
Exposure Blending Video Guide

Download Luminosity Mask Software

What is Exposure Blending?

Examples of Exposure Blended Images

Why Use Luminosity Masks To Blend Exposures?

Who Uses Luminosity Masks?

How to Prepare for Exposure Blending With Luminosity Masks

How Many Exposures Do I need?

Choosing the Correct Exposures

How to Stack Exposures in the Layers Panel

Which Order Do We Place Our Layers?

Which Exposure To Build Mask Around

How To Blend Exposures with Luminosity Masks

How To Blend Exposures With an Active Selection

Since the slow and painful death of HDR tone mapping, many
photographers are now wondering the exact same thing: How to blend
exposures with luminosity masks. The good news is, you can look no
further. I've been using and teaching exposure blending for years, and this
guide will put you firmly in the luminosity mask driving seat.

To follow along with this tutorial, you are welcome to download the
https://www.mediafire.com/file/yoqq95wyogkzw3u/Example_Images.zip/file

For a complete course which covers everything

you'll need in your photography
— including advanced luminosity masking —
see my most popular course:

The Art of Photography

Click For More Info

 Exposure Blending Video Guide

If you're a visual person and prefer to learn from video tutorials, I've
created a very popular YouTube video which will take you through
the same steps in the article. https://youtu.be/myIzxxlx7Do

This is the most basic, easiest and most common way to make
Luminosity mask in Photoshop. We use the Channels tab.

First, open an image in Adobe Photoshop. Go to the Channels tab

usually found next to the Layers tab. Once your in Channels you
should see what looks like 4 layers RGB, Red, Green, Blue. Hold down
the Ctrl key on a PC or Command key on a Mac, and left-click on the
RGB thumbnail. That will give you an active selection based on 50%
brightness. Go back to your image in the layers tab and select the
image layer. Now click on the Add a Mask icon at the bottom of the
layers panel. A mask will be applied to your image based on the
selection determined by luminosity.
Download Luminosity Mask Software

Luminosity masks software makes life a lot easier. It's a complicated

process creating and intersecting luminosity masks. Much better, and
quicker, just to press a button and have one created for you. If you don't
have a luminosity mask generator, that's okay. I've got a couple for you.

You can download my Easy Panel for free which, with over 100,000 downloads, is
probably the most used 16 bit Luminosity Mask panel in the world.

FREE Option
- Easy Panel -

Click For More Info

Easy Panel Video

Raya Pro, used by over 25,000 photographers. It's also a total workflow solution,
where you can access advanced PS features with just one click.

Premium Option
- Raya Pro-

Click For More Info

Raya Pro Video

 What Is Exposure Blending

Exposure blending, as the name suggests, is the process of merging

multiple exposures of the same scene so that our final image has no
over/underexposed areas. We come out with an image that should
have a natural balance of light throughout.

Wait a minute...isn't that just HDR?

In some ways it is, but the difference between exposure blending

with luminosity masks and using HDR software is vast. To put it
mildly, luminosity masking will produce far more natural and clean
results than any HDR program. The reason: it works directly with
your RAW files, but does not alter them in any way (the colour,
sharpness etc.) as HDR does.

See the differences between HDR and Exposure Blending in the

video below. https://youtu.be/BsPyGUNp0Xs
Examples of Exposure Blended
Images
These are a few of my images that were exposure blended using
luminosity masks.

See My Portfolio Here

Why Use Luminosity Masks To Blend
Exposures?
If you watched the video above, you'll know by now that exposure
blending is far superior to HDR tone mapping. But there are different
types of exposure blending, like the Quick Blending sliders in Raya
Pro. What makes luminosity masking so important?

Undoubtedly, luminosity masks give us far greater control and

precision in our selections. We're able to make extremely fine
changes that affect only the narrowest parts of our scene. Check
out the shot below. On the left you'll see the image before using
luminosity masks. On the right is the image where I have recovered
only the overexposed areas in the tops of the buildings. Essentially,
we have blended just two small areas of the scene without affecting
anywhere else. No other exposure blending option offers that level of
control.
 Who Uses Luminosity Masks?

More or less every genre of photography can find use in luminosity

masks. It isn't just a landscape photographer's tool. I've personally
used it with cityscapes, interiors, astro shots, landscapes, black and
whites, seascapes, long exposures.

We know a huge amount of world leading photographers who use

Luminosity masking.

The below buttons are pop up videos showing different ways and
scenes where exposures were blended using luminosity masks.

To name only a few, credit to:

Michael Woloszynowicz (portraits) and Peter Zelinka (astro).

You can also see some excellent uses of luminosity masks on the
Luminosity Mask forum.

PORTRAITS INTERIORS

ASTRO CITYSCAPES
How to Prepare for Exposure Blending
With Luminosity Masks
Before exposure blending, we need to do a couple of quick things.
These all relate to the brush tool. As you move further on down the
tutorial you will learn that there are two ways to blend exposures
using luminosity masks: Applying the mask directly and painting in a
selection.

To paint in an active luminosity mask selection, we need to set our

paintbrush correctly. This means selecting the paintbrush in
Photoshop

Going to the top menu and setting Flow to 100% and

Smoothing to 0%.

To the left of those settings, you will see a dropdown box

which says 'Mode' next to it.

Make sure the blend mode is set to Normal.

And finally, make sure the brush has a hardness of 0.

How Many Exposures Do I need?

How many exposures to take, and the EV difference between

exposures is one of the first things people consider when they begin
their journey into digital blending. Getting it right in-camera is an
absolute must. Otherwise, you may return home with a set of
exposures that won’t give you the options needed to create a
balanced image.

Things to know: EV difference means how many stops between

each exposure. For example, 7 exposures with an EV difference of 1
could look something like this: -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3.

In scenes of low contrast, two exposures will usually do the trick, like
the exposures used below in this tutorial. Scenes of higher contrast,
three exposures are usually ideal.

On very rare occasions, where the dynamic light in a scene is

particularly wide, we will need more exposures. This is covered in
more detail in Part 5 of this series: How Many Exposures Do I Need
for Exposure Blending?
Choosing the Correct Exposures

Choosing the correct exposures for blending is one of the most

important steps in the exposure blending workflow. The rule of
thumb is: the exposures you choose should cover the full range of
light in your scene. In other words, your brightest exposure should
have no underexposed shadows. While the darker exposure should
have no overexposed highlights.

However...

Not all exposures are equal. The second rule of thumb is: your
exposures should be as close as possible in terms of stops. The
closer together, the smoother the blend.

For example, see the three images below.

The first one is our brightest exposure, also know as our

base exposure because it contains most of the information
in the scene. We just need to recover the sky from a
darker exposure.

The image below that is the darker exposure we will use in

this tutorial. Notice how it is dark enough to contain all the
necessary information in the highlights.

But the final exposure is also dark and contains no

overexposed areas, and yet if we try to blend that into our
base exposure, the final result will not look good. This is
because it is too dark.
 Exposure Comparison
To demonstrate the importance of choosing the right exposures,
look at the image below. This is the result when we blend the base
exposure with the darkest exposure.

No other adjustments
have been to this
image. Just a straight
exposure blend. The
image to the left looks
entirely wrong and will
take extra steps to
clean up. But just using
an exposure 1 stop
brighter, we managed a
much smoother blend
without additional
adjustments, below.

This is the result

when we blend
the base
exposure and the
dark (not
darkest)
exposure
together.
 How to Stack Exposures
in the Layers Panel
To exposure blend we need our exposures to sit on top of each
other on our layers panel.
 In Raya Pro that's simple. We
open our images (works with
RAW files, JPEGS, smart
objects) in Photoshop and click
Stack in the Raya Pro Hub.

If you don't have Raya Pro and are working purely with JPEGs, you
can open and stack multiple exposures in Photoshop by going to
File>Scripts>Load Files Into Stack.

However, if you're working with smart objects as I tend to do, you

have to stack exposures manually. In which case, it is much easier
to see it done than replicating the steps here. So please click on the
button below to see how to manually stack layers. Skip to 3:42 in the
video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myIzxxlx7Do&t=222s
 Which Order Do We Place
Our Layers?
We now have our layers stacked on top of each other. We have to
determine which order we want to put them. I always put my base
exposure at the bottom. This is my best exposure which contains
most of the information I will need. On top of that I will place the
darker exposure. And if I'm working with a third exposure, let's say a
really bright one, that will go on the very top.
 Which Exposure
To Build Mask Around
If you've pulled your images into Photoshop and stacked them,
you're ready to build luminosity masks. The first question we have to
ask ourselves is, which exposure do we build our mask around?
What I mean by this is, when we create a luminosity mask — let's
say a brights 1 luminosity mask — how is it created? Where does it
get its information from?

The answer to that is simple: luminosity masks are based on

whatever the big image is on our screen. It doesn't matter what layer
we have selected in the Layers panel. The only thing that matters is
that large image that takes up most of your workspace.
Why is that important?

Well if you remember in Chapter 1: Essential Luminosity Masks

Tutorial for Beginners, I said that whatever is white in our mask is
selected, and whatever is grey is partially selected. Black is
completely deselected. So in our example image above, we wanted
to blend the sky from the darker exposure into the brighter one. And
that means we needed a selection of the sky. So we needed the sky
to be white or light grey in the mask.

Look at the brights 1 luminosity mask that is created when I make

the dark exposure visible in Photoshop.

Is the sky selected in

this mask? Not
really. Okay, there
are some lighter
grey tones there, but
we want the sky to
be fully selected.
Therefore it needs to
be white.

Now look at what happens when make the dark exposure invisible
and build the same brights 1 mask around the base exposure
(brighter exposure).

Is that an
improvement? It most
certainly is. The sky is
now white (which
means selected). The
foreground is dark so
that means we won't
bring too much of that
dark exposure
foreground through.
Why is this mask so much better than the one built around the
darker exposure? The answer is straightforward: the sky in the
brighter exposure is white. Therefore the sky in the mask will be
white.

And this leads us to what a brights 1 luminosity mask is — it is quite

simply the black and white version of your large image.

So when you're about to build a mask, ask yourself what you need to
be selected in the mask. Most of the time, you will simply need to
build the mask around the base (brighter) exposure.
 How To Blend Exposures
with Luminosity Masks
Okay, I know all of that seemed like a lot but trust me, once you've
understood this stuff, it all becomes second nature. And now the
next steps — the actual exposure blending — will seem very simple.

So, how do we blend our exposures? We've got our layers in

Photoshop, our base on the bottom and the dark one on top and
we're raring to go.

In this section we are going to create a brights 1 mask, then apply it

to dark exposure.

Step 1 — Make your darker exposure invisible by pressing the eye

icon next to the layer. Your base exposure should be visible on the
large workspace now.
 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 2 — Select the dark layer.

Step 3 — Press 16Bit Bright LMs.

 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 4 — Press the number '1'.

Step 5 — Press Apply Mask.

 Instructions for Raya Pro

Step 2 — In InstaMask, press B1.

Step 3 — Select dark exposure and press Apply.

And that's it. Just make your dark exposure visible again and you'll
see your exposures are now blended.

You should now

have an image
that is exposure
blended.

The top image is

our before and
the bottom one
is after Blending.

Naturally, there's
still work to do,
like
contrast/colour
adjustments, but
we've taken our
first and possibly
most important
step in the
workflow.

We've now got a

balanced image
from which to
work.
 How To Blend Exposures With
an Active Selection
The process above is superb for blending most exposures, but when
we press Apply as we have, we apply the luminosity mask to the
whole image. What if we wanted to make more targeted changes like
in the cityscape image we saw earlier where only a few highlights
were recovered?

In this case we need to manually paint in our mask. We do that by

converting the luminosity mask into an active selection. Don't worry,
it's simpler than it sounds (especially with Raya Pro).

Step 1 — Select the Dark Exposure.

 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 2 — Create a black mask on the dark exposure by holding alt

(option on a Mac) and pressing the Add a layer mask icon at the
bottom of the Layers panel.

Step 3 — Press 16Bit Bright LMs in the Easy Panel.

 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 4 — Press the number '1'.

Step 5 — Press the Make Selection button. You will now see marching
ants on your screen which show your active selection.
 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 6 — Press ctrl+h (command+h) to hide the marching ants. The

selection will still be active but not visible.

Step 7 — Select the black mask of the dark layer by clicking on it.
 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 8 — Choose a paintbrush with a white foreground.

 Instructions for Easy Panel

Step 9 — With a large brush (settings: 100% opacity, 100% flow, 0%

smoothing, 0% hardness), paint across the whole sky in one
sweeping movement. Don't take your finger off the mouse button until
you've covered every area of the sky.

Step 10 — At this point, the darker exposure sky should be through

and looking good. However, you may notice to the left in the sky
above the mountain it's a little bright. With active selections we can go
over the same area multiple times to reinforce the effect. So once
again, sweep the brush across the sky.

Step 11 — You must press ctrl+D (command+D on a Mac) to

deselect your active selection.
 Instructions for Raya Pro

Step 1 — Make the dark exposure invisible, just as before.

Step 2 — In InstaMask press B1.

 Instructions for Raya Pro

Step 3 — Now press Select White.

Step 4 —Now you're ready to start painting. With Raya Pro you don't
need to do the other steps needed with the Easy Panel. Raya Pro
does that for you. With a large brush (settings: 100% opacity, 100%
flow, 0% smoothing, 0% hardness), paint across the whole sky in one
sweeping movement. Don't take your finger off the mouse button until
you've covered every area of the sky.

Step 5 — At this point, the darker exposure sky should be through

and looking good. However, you may notice to the left in the sky
above the mountain it's a little bright. With active selections, we can
go over the same area multiple times to reinforce the effect. So once
again, sweep the brush across the sky.
 Instructions for Raya Pro

Step 6 — Step 6: You must press ctrl+D (command+D on a Mac) to

deselect your active selection.

Congratulations! You have now blended your exposures. You should

have a final image that looks like this.
 FREE FREE
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 3

CHAPTER THREE

How To Deal With Moving

Objects In Exposure
Blending
Table of
Contents
To Begin – A Common Misconception

How To Deal With Real Moving Objects

What If The Moving Object Is In A Less Than Ideal Position?

How To Double Blend a Single Exposure

Dealing with moving objects, like leaves/trees/foliage or people, in our
images presents a challenge in all forms of exposure blending. With HDR
software, moving objects are one of the more common causes of haloing
and ghosting.

In Digital Blending, we can completely avoid halos and ghosting, even

when moving objects are present, by becoming a little bit more creative.

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What You'll Need For These Tutorials
Luminosity Mask Resources Before We Begin

This is an introduction to Luminosity Masks (video tutorial included), that I

wrote on 500px: The Basics Of Luminosity Masks In Digital Blending

If you’re new to Luminosity Masks and digital blending, here are a few
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 To Begin
A Common Misconception
On a few occasions I’ve been emailed by Digital Blending
enthusiasts asking me how to exposure blend with moving objects,
because they are left with dark edging around objects.

However, on closer inspection, the dark edging is not caused by

moving objects, but rather some clipping has occurred around the
edges of certain objects in their brighter exposures.

Let me give you an example. Below you see two images, one
normally exposed for the foreground and one darker exposure for
the sky.
On closer inspection, when we compare the two images we see that
the edges of the foliage on the brighter exposure have been shaven
off, leaving it smaller/thinner.

The darker exposure, on the other hand, has captured the foliage in
its entirety, and is noticeably fuller.

Darker Exposure Brighter Exposure

When we blend
these two
exposures with
luminosity masks
(Brights 3 with
the dark
exposure on top),
and a brush
opacity at 100%,
this is how the
foliage comes
out:
On seeing this, it’s easy to understand why some people think this
edging is due to movement between exposures. However, since this
isn’t the case, it’s very easy to fix.

Simply lower the opacity of the darker exposure until the leaves
match the brightness of the brighter exposure. In this case, I used
an opacity of 40%.

Alternatively, you can

simply choose a black
paintbrush at a low
opacity, and paint these
areas out until the foliage
looks natural by painting
on the mask of the darker
Exposure.

Here is the final image

with the darker exposure
opacity at 40%:

The final image – no over-exposed areas and no edging

 How To Deal With
Real Moving Objects
As with everything in Photoshop, there isn’t a single way to work with
moving objects. The greater your knowledge in Photoshop, the
greater the options you will have, and the more flexible you will be in
your processing.

Shooting First – The Importance of a Base Image

In Digital Blending it is important that our base exposure, usually our

normally exposed image, contains the majority of the information we
need.

With a well-shot base exposure, we can then blend in other

exposures in specific places, without affecting anything else. For
example, in the image below, the base exposure contains almost
everything. Building around this, I was then able to layer in
darker/brighter/light trail exposures as I needed.
With moving objects in our scene, like cars and people, it is
beneficial if our base exposure captures those moving objects in
their ideal locations, wherever that may be in regard to the vision you
have of your image.

Then you work around these objects by recovering

highlights/shadows in specific areas.

In the next image, I waited for the right moment to capture the
woman in the right place. For the darker exposure, a car then
entered the scene and the lady had moved. But none of this was
relevant as I simply needed the sky from the darker exposure, as the
base image had captured everything else.
 Base
Exposure

Darker
Exposure

Final Blend
Luminosity
Masks
Brights 2
 What If The Moving Object
Is In A Less Than Ideal Position?
In this case, we need to rely on the post-processing knowledge bank
in our head. The two exposures below present a real challenge,
because the flags on the boat are blowing in the wind, putting them
in very different positions between exposures.

Since the flags are in an area that is over exposed in the base
image, we will have to blend in a darker exposure, which will prove
difficult.

Base
Exposure

Darker
Exposure
I blended these exposures very quickly following my 21 Tips That Will
Transform Your Cityscape Photos

And the Rapid Blend If technique. The Blend If technique can be seen
in my Tutorial on How to Blend Exposures in Interior Photography.

Whenever Luminosity Masks struggle to blend exposures, the Rapid

Blend If technique is a powerful, and quick alternative.

But what happens if the

Rapid Blend If technique
didn’t do a good job?

In this case, we can turn to Triple or Double RAW Processing a single

file. You can see a great tutorial on it here:

The The Importance of Triple/Double Processing in Photoshop &

Exposure Blending

In this situation we can’t blend two exposures in this area specifically.

Instead, we will blend the two exposures everywhere else, apart from
the area with moving objects. For the trouble area, we will use only one
exposure – the darker exposure. We will double process the dark
exposure in Adobe Camera Raw.
 How To Double Blend
A Single Exposure
To do this, we open our two exposures in Photoshop. By default
ACR should open. Make any adjustments you normally make in
ACR. Here is an article on how to prepare your images in ACR for
Digital Blending.

While still in ACR, hold Shift and you will see the ‘Open Images’
button to the bottom right change to ‘Open Objects’.Left-click on
this. Your images will now open as Smart Objects in Photoshop.
Drag the dark exposure on to the base exposure.

Return to the dark exposure window, and

double click on the thumbnail of the layer.
This will open ACR again.

This time, increase the exposure slider so that the image

brightens up somewhat. If any area becomes over-exposed,
decrease the Highlights slider until happy. Our goal here is to try
and match the brightness of our final exposure after blending the
base and dark layers.

When you’re finished click OK.

Now drag the new, altered darker exposure and layer them on top
of the two exposures you layered earlier. So now you should have
a base exposure on the bottom, the dark exposure in the middle,
and the new dark exposure on top.

Make the top layer invisible and blend the two original exposures
as you would normally. For a basic tutorial on the Rapid Blend If
technique, please see here: Tutorial on How to Blend Exposures in
Interior Photography
At this point you should have a reasonably well exposed image in
front of you. In my case, everything is exposed for, I just need to
clean up the moving flags.

To do this I put a black mask on the top exposure (the altered dark
exposure). Then I choose a white paintbrush at 100% opacity and
paint in that exposure in the area of the flag. If the area is too dark,
or too bright, simply double-click on the thumbnail again of the top
layer to open up ACR, and adjust the exposure slider until the
exposure matches that of the blended image.

What the workflow looked like

 The final blend

Close up of the flags

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a single, most-effective way to deal

with moving objects. But the techniques shown in this article will
hopefully give you even more tools in your ever-growing Digital
Blending toolkit.
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 4

CHAPTER FOUR

How To Shoot For Exposure

Blending with Luminosity
Table of
Contents
How Is Shooting For Digital Blending Different To Shooting For
HDR?

How To Shoot For Exposure Blending With Luminosity Masks

Composition and Visualisation

Setting the White Balance

Aperture Priority

ISO and Aperture

Metering Mode

Manual Focus

Bracketing
How To Shoot For Exposure Blending
with Luminosity Masks
Capturing the scene correctly in-camera is certainly the most important
step in any photography workflow - a Digital Blending workflow is no
different.

No amount of post-processing can save a mood-less, blurry scene. It is

important that we understand the incredible machine that is our camera,
so that we can truly do justice to the wonderful scene in front of us. This
understanding comes from regular study and practice.

We have some excellent courses that teach you the best camera settings
to use and how to make the most of every image opportunity.

The Art of The Art of Digital

Photography Blending

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Although it may not seem obvious at first, our knowledge of post-
processing will often shape how we decide to shoot a scene. Some
see post-processing as something that just happens afterwards,
maybe to salvage a poorly shot image. However, it is better to view
the entire photographic experience as one process, from planning,
to shooting, to post-processing, rather than separating them.

That way we can better visualise the final result, and what steps we
need to take in order to realise the final image.
How Is Shooting For Digital Blending
Different To Shooting For HDR?
HDR programs have a number of limitations. Some of them don't like
exposures that are shot at varying exposure values. For example,
using exposures with an EV of -3,-2,0,+2 doesn't always go down
well because the EV spacing is inconsistent.

More restricting, it is almost impossible to get the most out of your

files when shooting with varying apertures, which is sometimes
necessary in Digital Blending, or when you wish to merge parts of a
long exposure image into your scene. HDR programs simply cannot
handle these demands.

That is why in HDR we usually shoot a standard set of brackets to

feed into our HDR program of choice. With Digital Blending, we have
far more freedom, which also means more choices to make in the
shooting stage.
How To Shoot For Exposure Blending
With Luminosity Masks
Below are the steps I take when setting up and shooting a scene.
However, it's important not to remain rigid in your workflow. We have
to change our processes according to the scene we're shooting.

Step 1 – Composition and Visualisation

The very first step I take is to look at the scene and try to understand
what mood is most dominant, and then look for elements that will
enhance that mood. Some scenes may have particular elements
which require special treatment.

For example, shooting long light trails or capturing smooth water

may need longer shutter Speeds.

I'll note these elements and take them into consideration when I
begin shooting.

Sometimes you may wish to blend multiple exposures across

different times, like the image below. The main part of the image was
shot at blue hour in the morning, but the right side of the sky was
taken from a shot 30 minutes later, from the same spot. It takes
confidence in your compositional ability to decide on a single
composition and keep it for a long period of time.

When I've decided on the

composition, I begin setting
everything up in Live View. I rarely
use the View Finder. This gives
me the added benefit using the
digital horizon to keep my images
straight.
Step 2 — Setting the White Balance

I almost always use K (Kelvin) mode for my white balance. This is a

very simple way of manually adjusting the warmth of your image. By
looking at Live View, I slide the K value left or right until I'm happy with
the general colours. For more information on K Mode, see:

Color by Kelvin: A Better Approach to White Balance

WB Settings Colour Temperature Light Source

10000-15000 K Clear Blue Sky
6.500 – 8000 K Cloudy Sky / Shade
6000 – 7000 K Noon Sunlight
5.500 – 6.500 K Average Daylight
5000 – 5.500 K Electric Flash
4000 – 5000 K Fluorescent Light
3000 – 4000 K Early AM / Late PM
2.500 – 3000 K Domestic Lighting
1000 – 2000 K Candle Flame

Step 3 — Aperture Priority

The vast majority of my shooting is done in Aperture Priority. This

shooting mode allows me to alter both the ISO and aperture, while the
camera calculates the appropriate shutter speed. This is far more
convenient than working in Manual and determining the shutter speed
myself.

You can learn more about Aperture Priority here:

A Beginner’s Guide to Using Aperture Priority Mode

Step 4 — ISO and Aperture.

Your ISO and aperture will determine your shutter speed. However,
the two aren't equal. A large aperture (small number), will shorten
shutter speed times, as will a large ISO value. However, the strong
noise created by a high ISO can greatly diminish image quality. In a
low light situation, where shutter speeds exceed our 30 second limit, I
will always choose a large aperture over high ISO to decrease
exposure time.

But it's important to know your camera and lens' capabilities so that
you can make the best choice. For example, the Nikon D800 handles
low light extremely well. I don't worry about raising the ISO in low light,
especially when shooting with the Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 lens. But I will still
choose a large aperture over a higher ISO to retain image sharpness.
In my Canon 60D, the image quality degrades significantly when I
exceed ISO800.

On the other hand, while my Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 (for the D800) is a
very good lens, it softens slightly at f/2.8 so I choose to raise the ISO
slightly instead of going for a larger aperture.

With Digital Blending, however, we can also alter our settings for
specific parts of an image which we may blend in to the final scene.
For example, let's say we have a cityscape in front of us with some
superb car trails. We already have a set of sharp exposures that cover
the entire range of light in the scene. (for an article on how many
exposures you need, see: How Many Exposures Do I Need For Digital
Blending?).

The challenge is, your middle exposure was only 2 seconds long. At 2
seconds it is very difficult to capture beautiful, sweeping car trails. You
can decrease your aperture (larger number) to extend your exposure
time. But be aware that the smaller the aperture, the closer you will
get to the 30 second exposure time limit. Once you're set, you can
capture car trail after car trail in as many exposures as you like, and
then blend them into the final image. You can learn how to do this
rapidly here: How To Add Dramatic Car Trails To Your Photos In
Photoshop.
There are two reasons why you wouldn't have used a small aperture in
the first place when capturing the exposures. First, if you're auto-
bracketing and your base exposure has a long exposure time, of let's
say, 15 seconds, your brighter exposures will not develop fully as you
will be exceeding your 30 second shutter limit.

Second, I find it better to create the cleanest, sharpest possible

images for my base exposures. This often involves shooting between
f/5-f/9, in my opinion. Choosing a smaller aperture in order to increase
exposure time may soften your images or leave you with excessive
chromatic aberration.
Step 5 — Metering Mode

Metering modes give you different methods for determine the

exposure. When shooting with my D800, I almost exclusively use the
Evaluative Metering mode. This is the default auto mode, where the
camera examines much of the scene and determines the exposure for
you. I use this mode because the D800 allows me to bracket 9
exposures, so I can be fairly certain I'll capture the correct range of
light within those exposures.

However, my Canon 60D only brackets 3 exposures, so I had to be

more specific about how I exposed for a scene. Instead, I would use
Spot Metering. This allowed me to pick a specific part of the scene
that I would choose as my normally exposed image. Then the auto-
bracketing would fire 2 more brackets, one dark and one bright,
around this exposure. If I found that I still had some over exposed
parts in my brightest exposure, I would then expose for a brighter part
of my image, and create more brackets around that. Or vice-a-avers if
I had under-exposed areas.

For more information on metering modes, see: Metering mode cheat

sheet: how they work and when to use them

Step 6 — Manual Focus

Beginners to photography sometimes worry that manual focus is

beyond them. However, manual focus is extremely easy. With Live
View on, simply press the magnifying glass button on your camera
(Sony A series cameras, use the C1 button). Zoom in as far as you
can go, and with focus set to manual, begin slowly shifting the focus
ring until the image is as sharp as possible. Now go out of magnify
mode and begin shooting. You'll be amazed at how sharp your images
will be, even in low light!
With the exception of the cityscape image below, I haven't used auto-
focus in about 2 years.

While our cameras and lenses are getting increasingly better at auto-
focusing, nothing, in my opinion, will produce better, and more
consistent sharpness, than manual focusing.

Tip: Always review every shot after you've taken it. Zoom in to see if
the details are sharp, and check to see the exposures cover the full
range of the light (if you're auto-bracketing).

The other benefit of using Live View to focus is that in most cameras,
the mirror locks up, which when shooting, reduces camera shake and
blurriness.

As for focal points, I almost always focus on something in the middle

distance, or further out, instead of the foreground. Some
photographers focus in the far corners of the scene in order to reduce
edge blur as well. Give it a try and see what you think.
Step 7 — Bracketing

In almost every standard scene I will auto-bracket. My goal here is to

get a solid base of exposures, 1 stop apart, that are sharp, well
exposed, and with good colour. After I have these exposures, I may
then switch to manual bracketing. I'll do this in order to experiment
with the scene a little, or capture certain elements, as we discussed
earlier. Or I may still have some under or over exposed areas that I
need to compensate for.

When it's a scene of very low contrast, I will bracket manually, simply
because it's easier just to manually bracket 2 exposures than fire off
many more than I need.

To bracket manually in the D800, I adjust the exposure using the

exposure button. You could also use spot metering, and choose a
different spot to expose for each time.

To Finish

This is a brief outline of the steps I take when shooting for Digital
Blending. In articles to come, we will look at each point in more detail,
so that each step becomes clearer, and you can shoot scenes with
confidence.

What to do once you've shot the scene? Check out this article on how
to prepare images for Digital Blending.

And if you're ready for the next step, you can take your processing to
new levels with the Art of Digital Blending course.
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 5

CHAPTER FIVE

How Many Exposures Do I

Need For Exposure
Blending?
Table of
Contents
No Secret Formula

What About EV Difference?

How To Get It Right Most Of The Time

Scenario 1 – Marsden Rock

Scenario 2 – Busan Skyline

How Many Exposures Do I Need For
Exposure Blending?
How many exposures to take, and the EV difference between
exposures is one of the first things people consider when they begin
their journey into digital blending. Getting it right in-camera is an
absolute must. Otherwise, you may return home with a set of
exposures that won’t give you the options needed to create a
balanced image.

Things to know: EV difference means how many stops between

each exposure. For example, 7 exposures with an EV difference of 1
could look something like this: -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3.

Exposure Blending refers to any method of manually blending

exposures in Photoshop. This article will be referring to luminosity
mask exposure blending mainly.

For anyone interested in why I prefer digital blending to HDR

software, feel free to check out this article: Why Use Luminosity
Masks in Exposure Blending

If you’re brand new to luminosity masks, I wrote a beginner’s tutorial

for 500px that may be useful: The Basics Of Luminosity Masks In
Digital Blending

Finally, with this link you can download my free luminosity mask
actions.
 No Secret Formula

As with everything in photography, there’s no secret formula here.

The first thing you must consider is making sure that the range of
exposures you take have captured the entire range of light within the
scene. In other words, your brightest exposure has detail in the
darkest areas, whereas your darkest exposure has information in the
brightest areas. Sometimes 2 exposures is all that is needed,
sometimes 5 – it all depends on the scene.

Example Exposures

In this example, the top

left hand image is the
base exposure.

There are also two lower

exposures to control the
Highlights, and one
Brighter exposure to
Recover the shadows.

The Final Blend Using

Luminosity Masks
 What About EV Difference?

You must also consider the EV difference between your exposures.

The smaller the difference between exposures, the smoother the
blending process can be. If you take 2 exposures for a highly
contrasting scene and they are 7 stops of light apart, for example -3
& +3, this will be incredibly difficult to blend because they are too
contrasting. The 2 exposures simply couldn’t fit together.

- 3 Exposure + 3 Exposure

Attempt At Blending The Exposures

How To Get It Right Most Of The Time

A quick method of getting it right, most of the time, is by shooting a

wide range of exposures (usually 9 stops will cover most scenes)
with an EV difference of 1. That way you’ll capture the entire range
of light in a scene, and the differences between exposures will be
close enough to smoothly blend the exposures.

Most of the time you won’t need all of the exposures for the blending
process. But having more exposures to choose from makes the
process easier and gives you more options.

Below I’m going to show you 2 different scenes that required

completely different workflows:

Scene 1 – Marsden Rock – Learn How To Create This Image

When shooting this scene, I captured two exposures 4 stops apart.

I used the darkest exposure as the

base layer, and blended in a
brighter exposure, by intersecting
multiple Darks masks, so that I
could recover some information in
the rocks. Admittedly, I could have
taken another exposure, 1 stop
darker, to recover more of the sky,
but I was able to recover the sky
in the darker exposure in
Adobe Camera Raw.

This wasn’t an intensely contrasting

scene so 2 exposures was enough
to get the image I wanted.
Scenario — Busan Skyline

The image below is 3-tile vertical panorama which was created using
21 exposures, most of which were used to enhance the car trails. One
of the challenges of this image is controlling the highlights in the I’Park
sign in the tallest building, slightly to the left.

This is what I would class as a reasonably contrasting scene. To

control these highlights I shot 5 exposures with a difference of 1 stop.
In the end, I used four of those exposures.
Exposures

After gently blending

each exposure at a low
opacity of around 15%,
using a Darks 2 mask,
I was able to bring some
nice balance to the
image.

After exposure blending This is what Brights 2 mask looked

(and full workflow applied) like (minus the banding)
What would this image look like if I used just 2 exposures?

Using Darks 2 again, I blended the -4 exposure into the 0 exposure to

show you how unnatural the blending would look. Essentially, the sign
is fine, but the glow around the sign has now become a dark halo. The
glow around the sign on the 0 exposure is very strong, while it is
almost non-existent on the -4 exposure. That is why combining these
two exposures is far more challenging.

I hope this article has cleared up any difficulties you may have had in
this area. Getting it right in-camera is a must. When faced with a
scene where you’re unsure, shoot as many brackets as necessary to
cover the range of light in that scene and make sure those brackets
are no more than 1 stop apart.

If you’d like to take your digital blending skills to a whole new level,
check out The Art of Digital Blending course.
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 6

CHAPTER SIX

Luminosity Masks – Why

Can’t I Paint Inside The
Selection?
Luminosity Masks – Why Can’t I Paint
Inside The Selection?
As beginners to luminosity masks, there are a number of challenges
we face in understanding their application. LMs are a wonderful tool
for any landscape or cityscape photographer, but one of the most
common questions I’m asked by newcomers to LMs is, ‘why can’t I
paint inside the mask selection?’

It is easy to understand
why we first come up
against this challenge.
When I ask these
photographers to show
me the images they’re
working on, I often see
the same type of scene,
similar to this one.
When I say the ‘same scene’, I’m not referring to cityscapes, but to the
light distribution of the scene – in other words, how much contrast is
in it.

The scene above is flat, with no over or under exposed areas. Often,
with scenes like this, people will try to paint in the sky from a darker
exposure, without wanting to affect the buildings. Their goal,
therefore, is to use luminosity masks to make a selection of the sky
and not the buildings.

However, with luminosity masks this isn’t possible because the

buildings and sky are of a similar brightness. But more importantly, it
isn’t necessary to combine exposures here. The goal of exposure
blending is to recover over exposed or under exposed areas. If your
image doesn’t have any, then you are in a very fortunate position. You
can do all of your editing on a single image, which is more
straightforward.

In fact, much of your editing can be done in ACR or Lightroom. You

can bring back some of the highlights with the Highlights slider, and
recover the shadows with the Shadows slider. Then you’ll have an
image with the full range of light.

Let’s take a look at an example

luminosity mask from this image.
Here is a Brights 2, one of the
masks we’d typically use to recover
a blown out sky.
 As you can see, the
top of the buildings are
grey, as is the sky. If
we try to create a
mask here, both the
sky and buildings will
be selected because
there is not enough
difference in brightness
between the two
objects.

There will be some

separation, because
the buildings are
marginally darker than
the sky, but the
difference isn’t strong
enough.

Let’s look at a different example where luminosity masks will work.

Below we have a seascape where the sky is over exposed. We also
have a sea stack in the background and cliffs to the right. We want to
paint the sky from a darker exposure into this exposure, but without
affecting the sea stack and cliffs.
After running luminosity masks, this is what Brights 2 looks like:

In the mask the sea stack is almost completely black, while the sky is
either white or light grey, and parts of the over exposed water are also
included in the selection. This is almost a perfect selection. By using
this mask, we can paint the sky in from a darker exposure, while not
affecting the sea stack and cliffs.
This is what a quick paint using Brights 2 with a white brush at 100%
opacity achieved (no other processing applied).

To Finish

As you can see, it is essential that you have enough contrast between
the areas you wish to select and the areas you don’t wish to include in
your selection in order to paint within the mask.

But with scenes of low contrast, ask yourself first, ‘do I need to blend
multiple exposures or will 1 exposure suffice?’ If there are no clipped
areas, stick with one exposure.
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Other Luminosity
Mask Resources

Introductions to Luminosity Masks Tutorial:

https://capturelandscapes.com/introduction-to-luminosity-
masks/

Creating Luminosity Masks in Affinity Photo:

https://lenscraft.co.uk/photo-editing-tutorials/creating-affinity-
photo-luminosity-masks/

Boosting Contrast with Luminosity Masks:

https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-
editing/luminosity-mask/

Creating Luminosity Masks in Gimp:

https://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Luminosity_Masks/