I have a question, derived from curiosity more than anything else. I use the common 'drag one image over the other technique' when I'm blending, as well as various blending modes, and stacking, then use the brush tool to reveal the details I want.
This works okay on straight forward images but I can't imagine using my manual drag and drop technique on a more complicated production where there could five or six seperate exposures combined with fastidious blending.
My question then is this: am I a decade behind? How are the most skilled among us handling complicated blending and getting a seamless result?
Posted by David Bostedo on January 2, 2011 at 5:33 PM
Barry - I'm sure there are some people who ue manual processes for blending that many exposures. But I think that by far the most common way anymore is to create an HDR image, either within PS or through one of the third party software packages. For me, I would turn to an HDR if :
1) I have more than 3 exposures to blend, AND/OR
2) The areas I want exposed from each are complex
So if I can use some relatively simple selections, brushing, and blending (digital GND kind of stuff) I'll stay manual, but for shots where I make five or six exposures, I always turn to HDR. I use the feature right in CS4, but CS5 is supposed to be better, and many people really like Photomatix and the newer Nik HDR Efex. There are also some good, although a little less user friendly, free-ware packages.
And once you step into the HDR realm, things can get trickier as it's doing a bit more to your image than just picking and choosing what parts of your original exposures to map.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 2, 2011 at 6:25 PM
Using Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Masks has helped me tremendously with adjusting exposures and blending images.
I've also used the drag 'n' drop method of layer masking with more than two images (on rare occasion), and it's really not as complicated as it sounds. I haven't yet found an automated HDR program that gives me the look and control I can achieve by hand blending images.
And a Happy New Year to you, as well!
Posted by Andreas Resch on January 3, 2011 at 11:41 AM
I use manual blending as often as possible, even with more than one blended layer. Like John I sometimes create masks with the help of Tony's Luminosity Masks to have a bit of control on my manual blending (mountain ridges, tree lines, ...). HDR just doesn't give me the results that I want no matter how clever the images are nowadays.
Happy New Year to you too.
Posted by John Mumaw on January 3, 2011 at 2:52 PM
As an addendum, thought you might be interested in seeing this image at ES&S that uses a blend from 7 different exposures.
Posted by David Bostedo on January 3, 2011 at 5:28 PM
That's an amazing shot John, and certainly not what's intended with HDR. Those blends were done for a multitude of reasons, and I wouldn't expect an HDR image to capture all of that. So I need to clarify what I said in my first response : When Barry talked about blending several exposures, I was (maybe wrongly) assuming multiple exposures being done simply to capture a large dynamic range.
That being said, I also like TKs luminosity masks for some images. And I don't have a problem considering HDR software output a starting point, rather than any kind of final image.
Okay, so what did Marc mean when I asked him about his blending techniques on that photo?: "No-one manually blends like I do".
I use TK masks too, but even so I don't think I could incorporate elements from seven images and blend them manually as well as Marc has. This is not drag-drop-and-paint, surely? ...
Posted by John Mumaw on January 3, 2011 at 6:42 PM
"That's an amazing shot John, and certainly not what's intended with HDR. Those blends were done for a multitude of reasons, and I wouldn't expect an HDR image to capture all of that."
Ummmm....I wasn't referring to HDR at all here, David.
"This is not drag-drop-and-paint, surely"
And why not? I blended 4 exposures one time, and as long as you keep close track of which image has which feature you want to incorporate into the final image, it's really not that difficult. Keeping a field log would be invaluable, of course.
Posted by Doug Roane on January 4, 2011 at 12:55 AM
Barry, this image is a 6 image blend here
I stack all of the exposures in order from lightest to darkest and manually use layer masks on each separate exposure to reveal the layer below. Having said that, I rarely need to use more than 3 exposures, especially with the versatility of Tony K.s masking techniques, which I use after the exposures are blended to fine tune. I don't use them for the actual blending, though it would probably make things easier in some cases.
Posted by David Bostedo on January 4, 2011 at 1:11 AM
Ummmm....I wasn't referring to HDR at all here, David.
Sorry - I was referring to that image with respect to what I wrote in my first post about HDR. It was clear in my head anyway.
Posted by Jared Atencio on January 4, 2011 at 3:28 PM
Adding to what others have said, technique in the field is the key to making a seamless blended image. I am no expert and have spent the greater part of the past year learning these techniques, but here's my approach:
In the field, you want to make your multiple exposures (bracketed images) as close to one another as your camera allows. If you have any ISO or Exposure noise reduction settings, make sure they are turned off as they will add time to your exposure after the fact creating gaps in your bracketing. If you have moving subjects (water, clouds on a windy day, bushes/trees blowing in the breeze) be extra careful. Also, keep an eye on your histogram while shooting to make sure you're not clipping shadows or highlights.
Once blending in PS, I use processes similar to John and Doug, all in PS, no HDR software as they usually introduce many unwanted artifacts and don't provide the control I want. TKs masks are a great tool and spend the time reading his tutorials as they can be taken in many different directions. Painting on the layer masks is an art, and is rarely accomplished with a single heavy paint stroke. Usually I go back and forth using a variety of TK's masks, creating new masks from those results, etc. The channels tab is your friend, learn to understand it. Also, play with the brush opacity as most times you will have to make many passes using a light opacity to get the effect and seamless blend you want.
Discussion
12 repliesHappy New Year NPNers!
I have a question, derived from curiosity more than anything else. I use the common 'drag one image over the other technique' when I'm blending, as well as various blending modes, and stacking, then use the brush tool to reveal the details I want.
This works okay on straight forward images but I can't imagine using my manual drag and drop technique on a more complicated production where there could five or six seperate exposures combined with fastidious blending.
My question then is this: am I a decade behind? How are the most skilled among us handling complicated blending and getting a seamless result?
1) I have more than 3 exposures to blend, AND/OR
2) The areas I want exposed from each are complex
So if I can use some relatively simple selections, brushing, and blending (digital GND kind of stuff) I'll stay manual, but for shots where I make five or six exposures, I always turn to HDR. I use the feature right in CS4, but CS5 is supposed to be better, and many people really like Photomatix and the newer Nik HDR Efex. There are also some good, although a little less user friendly, free-ware packages.
And once you step into the HDR realm, things can get trickier as it's doing a bit more to your image than just picking and choosing what parts of your original exposures to map.
I've also used the drag 'n' drop method of layer masking with more than two images (on rare occasion), and it's really not as complicated as it sounds. I haven't yet found an automated HDR program that gives me the look and control I can achieve by hand blending images.
And a Happy New Year to you, as well!
Happy New Year to you too.
That being said, I also like TKs luminosity masks for some images. And I don't have a problem considering HDR software output a starting point, rather than any kind of final image.
Okay, so what did Marc mean when I asked him about his blending techniques on that photo?: "No-one manually blends like I do".
I use TK masks too, but even so I don't think I could incorporate elements from seven images and blend them manually as well as Marc has. This is not drag-drop-and-paint, surely? ...
And why not? I blended 4 exposures one time, and as long as you keep close track of which image has which feature you want to incorporate into the final image, it's really not that difficult. Keeping a field log would be invaluable, of course.
I stack all of the exposures in order from lightest to darkest and manually use layer masks on each separate exposure to reveal the layer below. Having said that, I rarely need to use more than 3 exposures, especially with the versatility of Tony K.s masking techniques, which I use after the exposures are blended to fine tune. I don't use them for the actual blending, though it would probably make things easier in some cases.
Sorry - I was referring to that image with respect to what I wrote in my first post about HDR. It was clear in my head anyway.
In the field, you want to make your multiple exposures (bracketed images) as close to one another as your camera allows. If you have any ISO or Exposure noise reduction settings, make sure they are turned off as they will add time to your exposure after the fact creating gaps in your bracketing. If you have moving subjects (water, clouds on a windy day, bushes/trees blowing in the breeze) be extra careful. Also, keep an eye on your histogram while shooting to make sure you're not clipping shadows or highlights.
Once blending in PS, I use processes similar to John and Doug, all in PS, no HDR software as they usually introduce many unwanted artifacts and don't provide the control I want. TKs masks are a great tool and spend the time reading his tutorials as they can be taken in many different directions. Painting on the layer masks is an art, and is rarely accomplished with a single heavy paint stroke. Usually I go back and forth using a variety of TK's masks, creating new masks from those results, etc. The channels tab is your friend, learn to understand it. Also, play with the brush opacity as most times you will have to make many passes using a light opacity to get the effect and seamless blend you want.
Hope some of this helps, good luck blending!
-J
This has been a very interesting conversation and I'd like to thank everyone who took part.
Can I ask another question though? I use TK's masks to finetune, as most of you do, but never to blend. How do you do that?
I was doing some reading on TK's masks and found this. Perhaps it will help answer your question, Barry.
(HDR) Images Using Luminosity Masks
--P