Nature Notes

This Photoshop technique allows you to add highlight information to your image. It is useful for images such as landscapes where portions of the sky have blown. Note you need an image which was shot in RAW to use this technique.

In our example, the portion of sky in front of the storm has some rose portions and then some blue sky, which can be seen when the exposure is reduced. We want a properly exposed image which incorporates this information.

1. Do an initial RAW conversion of your file allowing the highlights to remain blown but with the balance of the image in the right exposure. We’ll call this the light image.

Image 1

2. Do another RAW conversion of your file with the exposure moved down allowing the highlights to show but underexposing the balance. We’ll call this the dark image.

Image 2

3. Copy the dark image as a layer to the light image ( on the dark image… Ctrl A [Select all], Ctrl C [Copy], and on the light image Ctrl V [Paste]).

Image 3

4. Add a layer mask to the dark layer. Alt click the thumbnail of the layer mask and paste [Ctrl V] the dark image into the mask.

Image 4 and Image 5

5. Alt click the layer mask again and click on the layer’s thumbnail. At this point you will probably need to add some contrast. Flatten the layers, and add contrast (perhaps 10%)

Image 6

At this point, you can apply your usual workflow (Remove dust, color correct, etc.)

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This tutorial is a part of the Photoshop Workflow Series

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