and please use their services
Tutorial Contrast Masking - an HDR alternative,
- Thread starter HIMUPNORTH
- Start date
- Messages
- 4,016
- Name
- Duncan
- Edit My Images
- Yes
I tried this technique for the first time last week - it works 
The image below is a rescue job - I was thinking of binning it but I quite like the resultant Contrast Masked image.
It looks even better at a larger size as the detail in the rocks and waves is beautiful.
The surprise for me is more that when 'playing' with images I feel are OK, the Contrast Masked images are often better.
So far about half the landscapes I've tried are better with the technique than the originals which I already liked.
I owe someone a beer
-
The image below is a rescue job - I was thinking of binning it but I quite like the resultant Contrast Masked image.
It looks even better at a larger size as the detail in the rocks and waves is beautiful.
The surprise for me is more that when 'playing' with images I feel are OK, the Contrast Masked images are often better.
So far about half the landscapes I've tried are better with the technique than the originals which I already liked.
I owe someone a beer
- Messages
- 4,016
- Name
- Duncan
- Edit My Images
- Yes
A few of my images suffered halo's
They are easy to fix
Here's a worked example
I don't mind if you think the original looks better, it's just a worked example and viewing at this size does not do it justice - the tweaked version looks great B I G
The original
With default settings and 66% opacity on the contrast mask layer - spot the halo on the ships superstructure and all along the horizon.
The fixed version - took all of 10 seconds including checking the results
THE FIX......
Use the history brush
Take the history from the step immediately before the Gaussian blur and paint it over the halo.
It vanishes with no artefacts and looks 100% natural
They are easy to fix
Here's a worked example
I don't mind if you think the original looks better, it's just a worked example and viewing at this size does not do it justice - the tweaked version looks great B I G
The original
With default settings and 66% opacity on the contrast mask layer - spot the halo on the ships superstructure and all along the horizon.
The fixed version - took all of 10 seconds including checking the results
THE FIX......
Use the history brush
Take the history from the step immediately before the Gaussian blur and paint it over the halo.
It vanishes with no artefacts and looks 100% natural
- Messages
- 21,341
- Edit My Images
- Yes
My fix for the halo is to use either dodge or burn at 10%, on either shadows or highlights depending on whether you have a light halo (burn 10% highlights) or dark halo (dodge 10% shadows) and paint over the affected area with the softest brush setting. If you do this on your masked layer it works a treat
