Luminosity Masks = Serious Control In Post.

I have been studying a lot about post working images in the last few weeks. In particular a lot of things related to Lightroom, however my research involves Photoshop as well. During my studys, I ran into a some topics that I have dodged in the past because of the amount of post work involved boarders insanity at first glance. The term I have been dodging is “Luminosity Mask”, basically it is a mask based on varying luminance levels of an image. A mask is simple, anything in white reveals and anything in black conceals, however there is more, much more.

Imagine being able to select parts of an image that are all the same luminance (brightness) and make several selections so that the entire range from black to white is part of an individual group. Now think of each group as a mask. Now have full control of an image to make targeted adjustments, but only to only the selected group. For example lets say you make a picture outside on a sunny day, the sky is blown out, but you can still see most the clouds. Using Luminosity Masks you can now save this image with ease. Select only the bright sky and bring down the exposure. In the past you had to go in and use some sort of tool to make a selection but always there is always a problem when you have to deal with other objects in the scene.

A Luminosity Mask targets a light values (0-255) so you dont need to use the lasso tool or marquee section tool, a paint brush or anything else to select the area you want to change. This means you can make exact selections with no gaps and this means no halos, or jaggies or any other artifact caused from a poor selection.

The coolest thing about the Luminosity Masks is you can run them as an action, so its a one click deal. You can buy actions or make your own. I have created a Luminosity Mask Action for all of you and it is free. All you have to do is ask for it, and not distribute it to anyone. If you know someone that might want this action, please have them come here and get their own, they too can ask for it. Heck it’s a free gift from me to you. Below is a short video, (well kind of short;) to show you what I am talking about, and briefly show you how to use it.

Thanks for taking time to visit my blog, Thomas Shue

PS. Sorry for the long video. I am trying hard to get better at making videos. I think I am getting better every time I do one ;P

Please watch it to the end to see the best explanation of the Control you can get using my action, Enjoy