New tutorial on my SmugMug: Layer masking bracketed exposures

Matthew Saville

Hi everybody! Just the other day I completed a long-in-the-works tutorial, a very, VERY in-depth lesson on all the nuances of layer masking, in the context of merging two bracketed exposures.

Admittedly, this trick is no secret by now and has been covered innumerable times in photo magazines and on various web pages, but I've never been satisfied with the how the actual masking process was described; there are almost never tips on the small nuances of opacity / brush hardness, in particular.

So I didn't just describe how to put one layer on top of the other and mask it, and then cut you loose. I zoomed in to 100-200%, showed exactly how I start and how I "touch up" and how I optimize the merge to assure a seamless representation of what you originally saw.

Check the Tutorials section of my Equipment page, here:

http://matthewsaville.smugmug.com/Equipment%20Etc

Here's the final, merged image that is showcased in the tutorial, taken at Cal Poly Pomona University Campus in Southern California:



Take care, and PLEASE feel free to let me know what you think, to add advice, or most importantly correct me if I've made a mistake anywhere!


-Matt-

photodoug

Matthew Saville wrote:

Hi everybody! Just the other day I completed a long-in-the-works tutorial, a very, VERY in-depth lesson on all the nuances of layer masking, in the context of merging two bracketed exposures.

Admittedly, this trick is no secret by now and has been covered innumerable times in photo magazines and on various web pages, but I've never been satisfied with the how the actual masking process was described; there are almost never tips on the small nuances of opacity / brush hardness, in particular.

So I didn't just describe how to put one layer on top of the other and mask it, and then cut you loose. I zoomed in to 100-200%, showed exactly how I start and how I "touch up" and how I optimize the merge to assure a seamless representation of what you originally saw.

Check the Tutorials section of my Equipment page, here:

http://matthewsaville.smugmug.com/Equipment%20Etc

Here's the final, merged image that is showcased in the tutorial, taken at Cal Poly Pomona University Campus in Southern California:



Take care, and PLEASE feel free to let me know what you think, to add advice, or most importantly correct me if I've made a mistake anywhere!


-Matt-

very well done. thanks to you I've a new folder in My Pictures called "mask tutorial"

ginger_55

I filed it, looked very useful! Masks and blending are my Waterloo!

ginger

Only one nit: I wish all tutorials had the subject in the subject line so as for fast access. When I save yours on AOL fave places, it wants to just use your name. Maybe you have no control over that.

But in all cases, that would be a big help. Also, on here, an alphabetized index of tutorials of subjects, such as we might find at the back of a Scott Kelby/any big photoshop book.

That would really help in the search process.

ChrisJ

photodoug wrote:

very well done.

I agree, thanks for doing this Matt. I'd never actually tried the technique before, and had pretty good success following your steps.

Matthew Saville

ginger_55 wrote:

I filed it, looked very useful! Masks and blending are my Waterloo!

ginger

Only one nit: I wish all tutorials had the subject in the subject line so as for fast access. When I save yours on AOL fave places, it wants to just use your name. Maybe you have no control over that.

But in all cases, that would be a big help. Also, on here, an alphabetized index of tutorials of subjects, such as we might find at the back of a Scott Kelby/any big photoshop book.

That would really help in the search process.

Hi Ginger,

You are correct to assume that I have "no control" over the subject line. It is not something that I can dictate easily from the "customize gallery" page, though I do think I can override it by scripting something, somewhere. For now that is too time consuming. Usually I just set the subject of my own bookmarks manually, in Firefox.

They're compiling a collective smugmug of equipment reviews and tutorials, and I've expressed that all of mine are very welcome to be copied to this collective Smugmug, but I am not sure how to go about executing the procedure...

Take care and thanks everyone for the feedback,
-Matt-