If you are interested in Exposure Blending and can't quite work out what to do then have a look at this article I have published. I received a few PMs and emails from people on the FM forums regarding the technique I used when browsing the 14-24 write up I did last week. I thought it might be appropriate to readers on this forum in particular so I have published it today. You can also download some test shots and do your own blend...
Let me know if you have enjoyed the article or found it useful. I really appreciate it.
Great article David, thank you very much. Always looking to improve my blending skills. I have a variation that goes like this:
have the two different exposures open, and copy the dark image using ctrl-a, ctrl-c, then select the light image and paste using shift-ctrl-v (shift to perfectly align the images).
You can then close dark image. You now how have two layers the background layer is the light original, the top layer the pasted copy. Now copy the original image again using ctrl-a, ctrl-v and then alt click the white layer mask of the top layer, then ctrl-v and the mask now becomes a B&W image. With the mask selected add a Gaussian blur or between 20-40 pixels and then click on the background layer. it might seem a little flat and you'll probably need to add a curve to brighten up the dark areas, or or paint on the mask etc.
Looking forward to the more advanced articles on alpha masking David.
Thanks for the article, David. Very amusing and informative.
I found your alternative approach without using auto-bracketing very interesting, and it'll be something I have to try out in the future. I too am looking forward to your advanced articles on alpha masking.
I need to experiment with this. Tone-mapping and the cooked HDR look some of the well known programs produces leaves much to be desired. I guess that type of total HDR is overkill when I'm just trying to expose correctly two parts of the scene. Thanks for the link!
David Clapp wrote:
If you have read some of the other articles on this site and have become inquisitive about 'exposure blending' then this page is for you.
So it's exactly for me
In the image in your galery you used an other shot for the highlights to manage the horizont, didn't you?
(The Luminous Landscape link) at the end does not work, there is a "blank" in the end that should not be there.)
I am really looking forward to your article about "complicated methods of making selections and some really excellent alpha masking techniques."
