Manual Exposure Blending

I am more of a fan of manually going and blending multiple exposures than trying to use the automated result from a HDR program. My results from HDR programs have always been underwhelming for me and feel fake with lighting transitions that don't always make sense.

Now, I'm sure with enough tweeking I could get the result out of a HDR program I want but I find that implementing "ND" filters in post process to be more my style.

This works great for landscapes with a nice horizon but isn't as nice with night photography or for landscapes with buildings etc.

Most of the trouble I have is dealing with light/dark transitions. I've found that sometimes doing a ctrl+click on the RGB image in photoshop and throwing down the greyscale equivalent as a mask gets me close, but other times it compresses detail too much. I'm looking to see if anyone here has some good tips for creating effective masks that effectively "find" clipping locations and allow a different exposure to show through. Basically locations where the gradient or paintbrush(because of its soft edge) don't work so well.

Great topic Sdiver. I too am a fan of exposure blending, with or without the aid of HDR software. I'd be very interested to hear what others are using too. Here's some tools I've found so far:

• Luminosity Masks, as you mentioned by Cntrl/clicking on the RGB channel selects the brightest half of the photo. You can use this to combine different exposures as it cummulativly selects. In other words it modifies your selection depending on what's displayed, not just the layer you have selected.
  
  
• Color Range, is probably my most used method for selecting skies.
  
  
• Not a selection method, but you can view the mask by Alt clicking on its icon. This is really helpful when editing the mask.
  
  
• Sometimes I can achieve my blending goal by highlighting a layer, select it with Cntrl A, copy it with Cntrl C, and then paste it into a mask by viewing a blank mask (above) and pasting the layer in.
  
  
• No matter what method you use to select it can really help to use refine edge to hone your selection.
  
  
• There are times when you have to use the selection in steps or portions and not select everything at once. Use select, mask your area and then repeat for another area.
  
  
• Lastly, there is a mask pallet which offers some neat features, such as mask opacity and other editing features.
  

I've started to come to grips with the Refine Edge controls and I'm finding that you can really get a very fine level of control in creating layers and masks. Even things like shrubs and trees are no longer an obstacle to getting good blends.

I still need a lot more practice with the 'refine edges' tool for selections.

I think manually blending exposures together gives the artist total control of the final results and ultimately creates a much more natural image.

The Smart Radius adjustment is amazingly powerful.

I assume you guys are using CS5?

I am...

Me too.

Ditto here.

navydoc wrote in post #13598026
I still need a lot more practice with the 'refine edges' tool for selections.

I think manually blending exposures together gives the artist total control of the final results and ultimately creates a much more natural image.

Same here, on both statements.

Yup...gotta upgrade before I retire and loose access to good prices.