Rongnongno Loc: FL

Despite the so-called difficulty of creating them according to those who want you to buy their stuff here is a sure method to create the mask you need w/o sweating channels and key combinations and who knows what else.

For MAC users:
Command=Control
Alt=Option

Open an image
Duplicate it

Step 1 Mask creation
Press Ctrl-Alt-2 to create a highlight selection.

Click on mask icon or create an adjustment layer.

This is a run of mill RGB luminosity mask (Ctrl-Alt-3 = red, 4=green, 5=blue)

Now you may want to adjust the shadows instead of the highlights,
Just click on the mask then use Ctrl-I. Done


Step 2 Mask customization
Create a mask (Step 1)
Click on the mask (or enter the mask mode) Alt-Click

Open the curve adjustment (Ctrl-M)


Limit the range...
Remember this is modifying the luminosity 128~255 range
Highlight: Drag the controls shadow and or highlight points to visually adjust the range.

Shadows: Invert the mask (Ctrl-I) Drag the controls shadow and or highlight points to visually adjust the range.

Create a midrange mask
Remember this is modifying the luminosity 128~255 range
Drag the highlight cursor down to output 255.
Create a point, enter 127 in the input box

Shadows: Invert the mask
In both cases you can use the shadow and highlight input to limit the range.

Create a mixed midrange mask
Drag up the shadow so the output value is 127
Drag down the highlight so the output is 127
Create a midpoint:
Anything lower than input 127 will darken the mask and hide more.
Anything higher than input 127 will lighten the mask and hide more.


In both cases use the shadow and highlight input to limit the range.

Crazy mask...
Anything goes as you can create multiple control points to modify your luminosity mask. Experiment.


So, what can a mask created this way do?
Well, check out the precision when replacing the sky...
No mask

Masked

Notice the few grass areas that turned blue... A simple black brush over them while the mask is active and they are gone.


Comparison with PS CC Sky selection...


The image is from an old photo magazine CD that was to be used in a tutorial

More later on how to kill the lighter pixels.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Craigdca Loc: California

You’re so generous to take this I know you and all those who share their real world techniques will be the real deal.

It’s fine if it isn’t perfect in the first pass. Technical manuals take some testing by the team to refine a few times. I think it wouldn’t hurt to mention it’s written for Photoshop version ?? on a PC initially. In the end we’ll probably have the Mac keystrokes also.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Changed the title to reflect PS CC.

I am too lazy to seek the mac keystrokes...

Craigdca Loc: California

This can be a collaborative effort if someone wouldn’t mind embedding them into your text.

As members test these instructions they can update the steps with their ID after their changes.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Updated with illustrations...
Comments, question before I post this in the PP section?

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

If I send ya five bucks will you do the mac keystrokes?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Command=Control
Alt=Option

You owe me $10.00, $5.00 per stroke, it is cheap considering the medical expense you will have...

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

Much grass!

Craigdca Loc: California

I’m just hoping I can get it to work in PS CS3, but that’s MY problem, not yours. Thanks again.

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

Thanks again, Ron, for the Mac translations.

Question: I just created a highlights selection following your method (Cmnd-Opt-2), and put up a curves layer with that selection. Then, to further restrict the effects, I put three dots on the unchanged default curve at 180 and slightly below, to restrict any changes to 181-255; at least, that is the way it looks to me. It worked much better than another approach I had used on the same image.

Then it occurred to me to create the same curves layer, but without any selection or masking whatsoever, just the three dots to confine the impact, and the same slight adjustments above 180. I cannot tell the difference. Of course, if I wanted to alter something other than luminosity, say saturation, this approach would be utterly useless, but for luminosity it looks good. What if anything am I missing?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

You mean you did this on a white or a black mask?

If so, it is normal there is only one value either 255,255, 255 or 0,0,0.

What you can do is make them act as a highly controlled transparency (layer opacity ) option.
Level: use the Output slider to create a clipping.
Curve: Use the Input if the mask is white, or the output if Black.

The values of R,G and B stay equal in both cases: 10,10,10 by example.

Possible use for this method:
Adjust the layer opacity using 255 levels instead of %. In addition, you can use the layer opacity in % on top of it!

If this is not your question, I apologize, I did not understand it.

cbtsam Loc: Monkton, MD

I'm assuming, Ron, you're responding to my post. No worries about not understanding my question, and I hope there's none for my not understanding your response. So I'll try it again.

(1) I opened a raw .NEF image, made a few tweaks in ACR, and then opened it in PS. (2) Then I did the Cmnd-Opt-2 you recommended to get a highlight selection (128-255 range). (3) I opened a curves layer, which showed the 128-255 selection rather than a blank white square, so I'm guessing - that's how ignorant I am - that is a mask. (4) Wanting to restrict the impact of the curves layer to a smaller range than 128-255, I clicked on the curve three times, once at 180-180, and twice at, e.g., 170-170 & 160-160, although in practice I wasn't that precise, and one of them could have been 157-157. (5) In the space above 180, I clicked on and moved the curve to modify the luminosities in the 180-255 range, e.g., one at 210-200, darkening some of the image around 210 by ten "points," and the rest of the 180-255 range accordingly; values below 180 were unchanged because of my three clicks in step 4. Let's call this procedure A.

Then it occurred to me that I didn't need the selection from the Cmnd-Opt-2 at all. I could just open the curves layer, with a totally blank white square, put in my three clicks to freeze the curve below 180, and put in the forth click moving the curve to 210-200. Call this procedure B.

I couldn't tell the difference between procedures A & B. Was I missing something?

I understand that if I want to modify the saturation or color balance in the highlights, my use of either procedure A or B is pretty useless, but they seem to me to be equivalent for luminosity. Or, again, am I missing something?

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Ok, now I understand. Creating a mask is about precise control, nothing else.

The method I describe here is about modifying masks with great precision w/o using the rather obnoxious way offered to create luminosity masks in many websites, some even making you pay for it.

What you are doing is w/o a mask. There is nothing wrong with that. Personally I am done with masking altogether with a few exceptions. I use layer styles instead (blend if). The sliders there offer an incredible way to restrict changes.