Tone-Based Mask Panel for CS4

gmitchel850

A new CS4 panel is available. It allows users to make tone-based selections.

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/imagecache/lead_image_full/ToneMaskPanel.png

A luminosity mask is easy with Photoshop CS4. Just click on alt+ctrl+2 (option+cmd+2 on the Mac). But what if you want only the half-tones? Or, maybe you're working on a high key effect and you want to blur the highlights and the brighter quarter-tones. Well, the TLR Tone Mask Toolkit Panel makes that easy.

The panel is a tidy user interface for the TLR Tone Mask Toolkit action set. That action set is compatible with earlier version of Photoshop. This new panel is for CS4 only, but it sure makes it easy to do tone-based selections. You can choose your result, too: active selection, new layer with layer mask, or mask channel.

http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRToneMaskToolkitPanel

This is a free tool for the digital photography community. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mitch

gmitchel850

I posted an update today. In the original version, the calls to the Photoshop actions cause the actions to open. This left the Actions palette rather untidy.

I rewrote all of the action calls. They will expand the action set(s). But the actions will run without expanding. This is much tidier.

[http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRToneMaskToolkitPanel


Cheers,

Mitch

Drazick

Thanks.

Could you elaborate how does it work? How do you chose different areas by their tonal range?

gmitchel850

Drazick wrote:

Thanks.

Could you elaborate how does it work? How do you chose different areas by their tonal range?

You select the tone range you want from a combobox. Click on it and a list will drop down. You can choose from highlights, quarter tones, midtones, three-quarter tones, shadows, hight contrast (highlights and shadows), high key, and low key.

You can also choose whether those are defined narrowly or broadly.

Then you decide how you want the result. You can have an active selection (i.e., marching ants), a new layer with a layer mask, or a simple channel that you can use to add a mask to something like an adjustment layer.

Cheers,

Mitch