by
MichelB » Tue Jul 22, 2008 2:25 am
dsstrick9 wrote: I am starting to figure this out. But, I have a question. How do you determine whether the mask applies to highlights, shadows or mid-tones?
The basics of a mask:
Black will hide, white shows. The darker the grey tones, the more they will hide.
So, if you paste an image into a mask, the darker parts will be hidden, it is a shadows mask.
If you invert the mask (Ctrl I), you get a negative. It is a luminosity mask.
To get a midtones mask, the highlights and the shadows must be clear, the midtones must be dark. How can you transform an image this way? There are several ways.
Here is one, simple to apply, less so to understand... On a duplicate layer, do filter/stylize/solarize. Midtones are kept, and highlights are inverted. To better see the result, you can desaturate (optional) and apply autolevels. The mask is ready to be pasted. It shows midtones. If you want to hide them, invert (Ctrl I).
Other ways are to apply a gradient map, or a bell curve. More on this in another post, I need to show a few screenshots...