Until a camera comes along that is capable of recording naturally occurring dynamic range as our eyes see it, photography is a compromise or at best a technical challenge.
HDR, or Hight Dynamic Range images have become a cliche of contrast, wild tone and unrealistic representations of what we were seeing. Having said that, there are some who manage to create some excellent images using the available tools.
My goal is to create images with realistic contrast and dynamic range, but using a manual blending method rather than expecting a software algorithm to make the perfect choices for me. In Blending Case Study 1, we took a very simple example of an image where the transition between the sky and the foreground was a straight line, a simple gradient across the two layers created the desired effect.
Todays image is a little more complex, but I aim to show that with Photoshop CS5 how quickly and effectively we can create a natural looking blend between these two images.
To set the scene, these images were taken before dawn on Bali, Indonesia, as the full moon was setting behing this large Limestone Boulder.
Image 1 – Taken to expose the sky – 67s @ f4 ISO 400
As can be seen from the Histogram, the majority of the values (the sky) are in the mid tones to highlights area, with the deep shadows (the Boulder) represented by the very left side of the graph. The sky is brighter than I want in the final image, but as sensors capture more details in mid tones to highlight areas, I wanted to darken it later. Underexposing the sky would have created more noise in the final image. Better to overexpose slightly and darken later.
Image 2 – For the Boulder and Foreground – 181s @ f4 ISO 400.
Quite a different looking image and histogram. Two things to note; there was some light pollution coming in from the left and the foreground white balance was a little too warm, I cooled it down a bit, and that has made the sky more blue than in Image 1.
You will notice also, that even in Image 2, I have not over exposed the sky. I could easily use the sky in Image 2, darken it to create the look I am after, but you will notice that the stars have moved quite a bit in the 3 minute exposure. I just prefer the look of the sky in Image 1. End of the day, in your images, you can do what you want.
These files have already been optimised in Lightroom 3, ready for further work in Photoshop CS5.
Step 1 – Open both files in CS5 and drag Image 1 on top of Image 2, creating a Layer Stack of the two images. The default view will be Image 1, as there is no mask, and you cannot see Image 2 at all. What we want to do is create a Layer Mask that hides all the underexposed boulders and foreground from Image 1 and let the better exposure of Image 2 be seen.
Step 2 – The fastest way to create a mask is to use the Quick Selection tool. Draw along the horizon between the boulder and the sky and it snaps very closely to the edge of the boulder. The tricky thing with this image is the way the trees and bushes stick out the top of the rocks. We deal with those next.
Step 3 – Open SELECT – REFINE MASK and use the Refine Radius Tool to paint over the trees, and as if my magic, the mask starts to show the outlines of the trees against the sky. Take your time, and work precisely. A quick mask is usually a bad one. The default “marching Ants” is not the best view mode, switch to Black and White and you can see the mask better.
Step 4 – With the mask made, click again on SELECT and SAVE the Mask, you will need it again. and you don’t want to remake it every time. I usually save it as SKY.
Step 5 – With the mask selected, in the layers palette click on ADD NEW MASK and instantly the mask is applied and you habe the darker sky and the lighter boulder blended.
Step 6 – In this image, I wanted a darker sky, so again, with the mask selected I created a CURVES CLIPPING MASK for the sky layer and darkened the sky to where I wanted it.
The layers highlighted in BLUE show where we are up to so far. A neat trick is to put all the Sky Layer adjustments into a NEW GROUP, and then add a gradient to that group. That way, the effects of the darker sky blend down towards the foreground in a more gradual way.
The rest of the image working was simple, a little vibrance and a crop and the finished image is shown below. This took less than 10 minutes to do. Of course, I could have refined this image for a long time, but for this exercise just wanted to show the way to make more complex masks.
Related Posts
- Extended Dynamic Range Processing For Nature Photographers
- Luminosity Masks by Tony Kuyper
well explained tutorial