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Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:45 am
by brewer
I've seen some discussions here on making luminosity masks. I've found a author that does some very amazing things with them- manipulating them, and even making a burn/dodge layer and burning through a active luminosity mask selection. His photography also is stunning. Check out his tutorials, especially "Luminosity Masks", "Luminosity Painting" and "The Magic Mid-Tones".
http://www.goodlight.us/writing/tutorials.html

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:15 am
by suzib
Thanks for the link, I will be checking it out for sure.

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:39 am
by MichelB
Yes, Brewer, it is one of my favorites tutorials and already bookmarked : thanks for pointing to it.

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:51 am
by jlwilm
As that guy from Laugh In used to say Ver r r y Interesting.

Tried it on a couple of my images and all I can say is WOW E E E!

Bookmarked, read and now trying to figure out how to create the subsequent lighter/darker versions of the masks - without paying for the actions!

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:03 pm
by lruther1
:thanks: Have bookmarked for playing at a later date.

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 11:39 pm
by brewer
Yes John, I wish his photoshop CS3 actions would work in PSE. What he shows is certainly doable in PSE, especially with some of the add-ons like HiddenElements. Sure seams like the actions could be adapted to work in PSE somehow. I would think you could do a Select>Save Selection ... command, I haven't saved selections before and I was having a hard time keeping his different kinds of masks straight and saving them as different kinds of Saved Selections.

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:37 am
by smiles
Thanks for the link, brewer! I am off to check it out!

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:48 pm
by dondiego
Thanks for the link, brewer! Like others I have bookmarked it and have read every tutorial the guy posted and will go to paypal and do my thing. I think that in consideration of his contribution to the third love of my life (photography) first God, my wife and my craft he deserve the $25.00 per download and more. :thanks:

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 4:27 pm
by MichelB
brewer wrote: Yes John, I wish his photoshop CS3 actions would work in PSE. What he shows is certainly doable in PSE, especially with some of the add-ons like HiddenElements. Sure seams like the actions could be adapted to work in PSE somehow. I would think you could do a Select>Save Selection ... command, I haven't saved selections before and I was having a hard time keeping his different kinds of masks straight and saving them as different kinds of Saved Selections.

As usual trying to translate CS tutorials into Elements may not be the simplest method. As a matter of fact, very often a typical PSE way may be much simpler and as effective.
Have a look at this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=3308&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=luminosity+mask

Creating a luminosity mask does not require any action nor curves. Just use a gradient map. I had saved a set of standard luminosity mask gradient masks (just another kind of interface than curves) for highlights, midtones and shadows. Now I mainly use a tweakable gradient map with 4 or 5 stops to define what should be masked.

Re: Luminosity Masks

PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 12:31 am
by brewer
I agree with you, Michel, about doing things differently in Elements, and I am familiar with that thread - I learned much while following it (thank you!), and use gradient masks to make luminosity mask selections. But, for instance, this author is making a burn/dodge layer, loading a luminosity mask as a Selection, then burning through that Selection on the burn/dodge layer. I've tried it once, it's amazing.