Posted this in Post-Processing but...(RAW question)

[Curos]

doesn't seem to get many views there :-/ any help would be greatly appreciated



I am very new to shooting RAW, and it won't take over jpeg for me for a while at least, but i have a question. I have seen pics taken in RAW where parts of two pics are merged to create a picture w/ good lighting in the fore and back ground for instance. I am trying to merge 2 pictures of my pool so i can have both the pool and the area around it in good focus and light, and nothing blown out. How would i go about achieving this is Pshop? Thanks in advance.

[karusel]

Easy. As you probably know you take 2 shots (or more) with differend exposure times, then in PS you place those shots together as layers, then you delete what you don't like about one shot. It doesn't really have nothing to do with RAW, you can do the same with JPEG or any file.

[tarves57]

I'm sure you will get a more expert reply than mine, as I have only done this once or twice. First of all, I don't think this wold be done with raw images?

Very simplistically, you need to use layers, masking off the bottom of one layer and the top of the other layer and lowering the opacity of the top/bottom that is left. You then merge the two.

You can use two photos taken at exactly the same time and position but with differing exposure levels, or, split one photograph which has been taken with correct exposure for the sky, make a copy, and bring out the underexposed part in one copy, letting the sky burnout as you won't be using it. (This may be where you need raw, to control the exposure!), then merge.

Hope this gives you a rough idea.

Susan

[robertwgross]

You can do it with one RAW image, and convert it differently into two TIF images. But I think it is better to start with two RAW images exposed differently.

But you would be doing the actual manipulation and layers in Photoshop, and not with the RAW image or images directly.

---Bob Gross---

[Curos]

thanks for the replies.

sorry, i need to clarify. i took 2 different RAW images, one exposing the water properly, one the area around the water (and the water is blown out here) I will work on them and post what i can come up with.

[Jesper]

Do you mean this: Understanding Digital Blending (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-blending.shtml)

You take two photos with the camera on a tripod, one exposed for the highlights and one exposed for the shadows, and then you blend them in Photoshop - use the light areas of image 1 and the dark areas of image 2. The article linked to above explains a few different techniques for doing this.

A few tips:
- Put your camera on a tripod and make sure it doesn't move between making the photos, so you won't have to do a lot of work to align the images in Photoshop.
- Use the same aperture for both shots, because you want the same depth-of-field in both shots. (Use Av or M mode on your camera).

Here's an example image in which I blended two images: Euromast (Rotterdam, Netherlands) at night (http://jesper.fotopic.net/p4374187.html)