Luminosity masks - wow

elven

Yesterday I found a site that has some actions to download for creating luminosity masks. Just click through the pages of the tutorial and you can download them at the end.

If you don't know what a mask is, the tutorial explains it quite well - and even if you don't really follow what's going on in the background, if you download the actions and follow the instructions, you'll soon get the hang of just playing around with the results. It gives a huge amount of control over the different tones in your image - something I had tried to use lightzone for but I found the interface too cumbersome, and didn't want to have to install a whole other program for it either. I've literally tried it out for two minutes on a picture that was previously giving me serious grief, and I'm blown away at the control it gives you.

I know, I know, I said I don't like actions But these are different...

DaireQuinlan

I think I've done similar things before without giving it some fancy schmancy name :-)

Basically what he's doing is just grabbing a greyscale version of the image and using it as a mask to selectively lighten or (if the mask is inverted) darken bits of the image depending on their original tonality. Advantage I suppose is that because its all in adjustment layers its easy to change or turn on or off to preview what you're doing. The mid tones masking he was doing -was- interesting though. Remember, adjustment layers are your friends ! I never dodge or burn on the image any more for example, I always have a masked levels or curves adjustment layer and paint onto the mask instead. Much more control over the image that way, although it can get unwieldy if you have a pile of them. Careful naming and grouping can fix that up for you though.

D.

elven

Yup, it's the same for me, I would use greyscale copies as a mask and do levels on the mask to change the way the image is affected. What's different about this is the series of selective areas that are created with one click by the action - ie light, lightest lights, dark, darkest shadows. I think it might make the whole thing easier to digest for newbies.

Hugh_C

Great stuff! Even if nothing else than a PhotoShop 101 (which I needed). And all the suggestions about non-destructive adjustments. Great!

sineadw

Ooo lovely Actions are the best way I've found of learning - use it and then take them apart.

I'll have a play with this later...

leinsterman

Thanks Jools ... I just adpoted this technique ... and love it ... as you will have already noted in my flickr in your accusation of my trying to get the Marco girl crown ... there can be only one ... and that is defintely you!!

I think I'd prefer Macro Man ... though I can think of a few great advantages of being a girl ... none of which can be posted here ...

... I'd recommend going through the manual version rather than just jumping straight into using his actions ... it give you a far better understanding of what you are actually doing ... which can only help ... in addition you'll never be able to be truely creative if you are over reliant on using actions ....

311

This is a great post ,I only read the first three pages ,but it's great.

Who say photography is elitist ?:D

I'm in the process of ordering cs3 ,not long now.