PRECISION Color Grading with Blend If in Photoshop

[@SODOMAX-cq6le]

Besides perfect photo editing techniques, it's also life's philosophy when thinking deeply. Inspirational. Thxx very much

[@simoharjane7823]

Protect was the magic word needed to apprehend the Blend if option. Thank you .

[@CatalinGulan]

I keep saying to myself : fantastic guy this Blake..!!! Why? Because he shares all the time valuable knowledge? No, no is not just that..! On top of everything, Blake shares the enthusiasm and the pleasure of working in Ps, and I am talking about that pleasure had when you discover a solution to a difficult math problem, when you find solutions to a geometry puzzle problem...I am in loved with math, (and Digital Image Processing) and I made this comparison, because I noticed the same excitment at Blake! No more words to say: God bless you Blake!

[@f64Academy]

Hahaha! That is so true, I REALLY love what I do and I love solving difficult problems. Math was always my favorite subject in school, the harder the better ;)

[@ptst19]

Man, one more of the top class and we'll explained tutorials, you are a very talented teacher, thank you

[@f64Academy]

Oh wow! Thanks so much, I really appreciate your kind words 😁

[@Woji52]

YOU'VE SHOWN US CONTENT AWARE MASKING! Genius. I am so happy to find your channel sir. I have never even heard of blend if. So exciting

[@f64Academy]

Thats a very neat concept!

[@Apocalipsist93]

This video completely blew my mind

[@f64Academy]

😁 glad you liked it!

[@sonjon1000]

At last blend if is starting to make sense, thank you!

[@emilebaudot904]

Very well put over Blake...! And a fantastic tool in the Ps workflow....👍🏻

[@f64Academy]

Totally agree!

[@nicobotha8632]

Morning Sean, After the pleasure of watching your latest Blend Iff tutorial, I hasten to bring tribute to you as an exceptional artist, photographer and Photoshop expert. As enthusiastic and creative thinker, who shares his expertise with enthusiasim, you truly are a man for all seasons! Kind regards, The octoganerian from South Africa, Nico.

[@f64Academy]

Thanks so much, I'll pass this along to Sean 🤣 he's a great guy too but I'm Blake 🤣

[@nicobotha8632]

@@f64Academy Apologies. it is intended for you Blake!

[@f64Academy]

Just messing with you 😁 better than being called Blase, Blair, or Black 🤣🤣🤣 those are the usual suspects.

[@nicobotha8632]

You’re messing wih a smile, the same humour that gives a sparkel to your tutrials! I enjoy it.

[@grossoanthony]

A game changer! Thank you, superbly well done!

[@f64Academy]

Thank you very much!

[@sandrakuijpers9206]

You're the man for Photoshop training. You go deep and show me stuff I did not know yet. Thanks very much. Keep up posting advanced Photoshop training please.

[@f64Academy]

For sure! Been doing it for 10 years, no plan on stopping 😁

[@ChrisKendrick]

Well, Rudis. You did it. Last straw; icing on the cake; la crème de la crème. As a result of this video plus the very simple HSL color grading video, I became an elite member. Awesome work.

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Thanks so much for your support 😁 I think you'll love Elite. It's all about growth there.

[@sergedaleiden5597]

Big thumbs up! Finally (I think) I'm starting to understand blend-if ... will consider it from now in my workflow. Keep up the good work Blake.

[@f64Academy]

woop woop! Love it! Its a hard topic, give yourself lots of time with it.

[@sergedaleiden5597]

@@f64Academy Will do, sir!

[@ctenos45069]

Excellent job Blake. I have used the BlendIf with the blue channel to help with sky replacements. This video takes it up several notches. If you ever visit the Cincinnati area, I owe you a cup of coffee for this one. You continue to Rock with when it comes to the PS channels on here.

[@f64Academy]

Thanks so much, Clay! It means a lot to me! If I'm ever up that way, coffee sounds good, or tea... I'm a tea guy!

[@ctenos45069]

@@f64Academy if you’re a tea guy, I won’t hold that against you since your videos and zone system are so good. Blend If is so great for application of ZS, and you’re new approaches to color grading are very intuitive and extremely easy to use as complimentary tools to help with understanding color theory!

[@MartinH81]

Brilliant video, so well explained! Thanks a a million Blake!

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure!

[@joshashdown4431]

Well...I have to say I thought I understood Blend If concepts fairly well, but I stand corrected. Blake, you showed several things I had not tried before. Outstanding as always sir!

[@f64Academy]

Always learning! Best way to live 😎

[@JeffStudley]

That was amazing. The visual of the overlay and how blend if affects where it goes was perfect.

[@f64Academy]

That's the fireworks 🎆 show for sure!

[@nosauten]

Just discovered your channel. Amazing tutorial. Mind blown 🤯 😱 I have a completely better understanding of blendif now. You make it very clear when you used the word protect in-front of underlying layer. I always struggled with the concept of understanding what it was doing before.

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Man that makes me so glad to hear! Welcome to the channel 😁

[@mywildlifestories3793]

That's a lovely. Now I understand the correct way using blend if.. It's time to put in the practice

[@f64Academy]

Love it! Yep, your turn now 😁😁😁

[@JohnBerthoty]

Always next level (or two). NO one else is going this deep. Thanks.

[@f64Academy]

I try to go deep but still make it easy 😁

[@SonickPhotographie]

Excellent video, I've learned a lot! Thank you 😃

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure 😁

[@rejeanbrandt]

Very insightful. I’ve used blend-if for several years but never considered using a color overlay to preview what areas are being “masked”. Thank you for this!

[@f64Academy]

Glad it was helpful! That's my favorite tip for Blend If.

[@lancelenoir2875]

You can also take the color overlay showing the "masked" areas stamp them into a new layer. Change that layer to difference and make a real mask that is much more detailed and correct than anything photoshop can do with its masking tools.

[@Woji52]

​@@lancelenoir2875 Nice. One of my first thoughts was using this technique for proper masking. This is a great tip on its own. CheersQ

[@ProfMary]

You have convinced me about the power of Blend If, Blake! I am a believer. I find I am using it more than I thought I would, thanks to you. This is a powerful video. Thanks for sharing.

[@f64Academy]

😁 yes! I love it!

[@stanleymccleave9684]

Wow Blake, you're style of working in Psd is unique. Simple yet deeply effective techniques. I'm so blown away I had to comment and I never comment.

[@f64Academy]

Wow, thank you! That's so great to hear, thank you Stanley :)

[@imnotmarbin]

I really enjoyed your video, I used to follow some other tutorials instructions on blend if, but I never knew what I was doing. Now I understand what blend if is about.

[@f64Academy]

I love it! Thanks for sticking with it 😁

[@pankajpaneru6542]

I thought I was watching just another blend if tutorial until you started talking bout color blend-if 🤯. Thank you for the research you put in to come up with these crazy techniques!!! Gonna go have fun with blend if now !

[@f64Academy]

I'm sneaky like that!

[@betty-louluyken904]

You never cease to amaze me, Blake. Whenever I think I get it, you show me something new. Love it!!

[@f64Academy]

Haha 😁 that's my job!

[@richardstalter5461]

That is crazy. I have to go back and go through this a couple times. I never cease to be amazed at what I don't understand about Photoshop. Way cool, Blake.

[@f64Academy]

Same here! There is always so much to learn. I love that it is a bottomless pit.

[@hanswi336]

Absolutely stunning !

[@f64Academy]

Sweet!

[@Lu-Heringer]

Protect the other(s) color(s)! What a clever way to do this! Thanks to your dedication/disposition to make our life easier on PS, I finally can put Blend If to work properly for me and my work. I just did a brief test and the result was the best I came up with these past few days! You never cease to amaze me, Blake. Thank you, always :)

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! That makes me so dang happy! Thanks for always being inquisitive and full of passion. It fuels my fire to keep on making these 😁

[@Lu-Heringer]

@@f64Academy 'full of passion' for our work - that's something we definitively share ;) Keep your fire-fueled, Blake. We, your followers, will always thank you :)

[@GeorgesPaquinPhoto]

That technic is awesome!!!

[@f64Academy]

Thanks 😁

[@marcelofarah8657]

I still remember the first video I've watched from you. It was about how to detect the dominant colors in an image using the intensity slider in ACR (white balance). It was so simple I couldn't believe with only one slider you could see it. That's what I love about your videos, your simplicity and how you make things easier for us to understand. Regards.

[@f64Academy]

Simplicity is the best! I try to make these difficult things easy to understand. This one... wow, this one was a 35 minute video before editing. I had to cut a LOT out. It's hard to teach so I am glad to hear it is comprehendible, haha

[@pamrhodes3462]

This is incredible! I finally understand “Blend If”... Thank you.

[@f64Academy]

That's great! It can certainly be a tricky topic to learn.

[@subhasissarkar8758]

Amazing! This is added to my workflow from now on. Thank you Blake!

[@f64Academy]

Woot,! Love hearing that!

[@nilswesterveld655]

This is just awesome - thank you Blake! :)

[@larryrudnick1519]

Excellent instruction - I've been following you and been an Elite member for a few years and I'm finally start to get blend-if. The RGB blend-if completely confused me. Thanks!

[@f64Academy]

Sweet! The RGB can be difficult to understand for sure. Take it slow and experiment is my recommendation.

[@lmergenti]

Blake! Wow! This just blew me away! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@f64Academy]

Awesome 👍😎 glad you liked it!

[@RyanZeroCorrigan]

Thank you for keeping my skills fresh and for keeping photoshop an ever-learning experience for me! I use tips like this everyday in my workflow.

[@f64Academy]

Man, that makes me so glad to hear. I appreciate your feedback and you for putting these things into practice.

[@ajhertel]

🤯 Good stuff here. As a BW artist this really is a great tool as I usually have my color layers underneath my BW conversion layers. I use different masking methods but had to do double work sometimes because masks aren’t “fluid”. Thanks so much for showing how to use BlendIf with the color channels, I’m excited now!

[@f64Academy]

Great application for BW work as well!

[@sanjaykrdas4u]

Absolutely Brilliant as always, making complex subjects detailed in an "as simple as possible" manner ... love the down to earth approach while explaining your ideas about the process. Totally agree with you in this method, it actually opens-up more possibilities and flexibilities on all 3 RGB channel's and their corresponding luminosity values individually too, resulting in an absolute precision control over the tonal values in the given range(s). You just made my day by clearing my hunch I was having recently. Regards 👍👍👍

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Man that's so great to hear! Thanks for the feedback. And for watching the video!

[@jeremybuscay]

My first lesson with blendif came about 15 years ago while adding grafitti to a brick wall behind a model. I wanted the artwork to look as if it had been weathered. It is such a powerful tool. Great video!

[@f64Academy]

That is awesome!

[@darrenhebert3096]

Love your enthusiasm and passion to share Blake. Great instructor, who really does want to help others…..

[@f64Academy]

Thanks so much! I do love my job, seeing others succeed in their work is very rewarding.

[@arnovandenbergh928]

And you did it again 🤗 this was another excellent tutorial thanks man🙌 can’t wait to try it🔥🔥🔥

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Thank you! I am really glad you like it.

[@alanward6738]

never used blend if like this before....great tutorial...thanks

[@f64Academy]

Sure thing!

[@JeffreyMcPheeters]

Thanks, Blake. It's really a great tool and one you brought me back to some years ago. I first encountered and used Blend-if for color blending more than 15 years ago, and this is still my favorite way to use it, and I think I wasn't really cognizant why I like it with color but you make it clear with your explanation of how well it works as a continuous modifier for changes happening underneath. Kudos once again.

[@johnsamuelmcelroy]

Great technique! This surpasses luminosity methods by a bunch and is why I purchased your Zone system panels and training yesterday. You make very pertinent and easy too understand content. 👍

[@f64Academy]

Awesome! Love it 😁

[@bodywise007]

You are a master. And dedicated teacher. I can't get this to work as well as TK masking which is very pinpointed, targeted and more successful for me. But I see your method.

[@jaspergoodall3206]

Thank you thank you thank you! I have been using blend if for years and never knew about the colour overlay! I always eyeballed it 😆 The visual aid is so much better. Also never realised you could combine R/G/B AND gray 🤯

[@f64Academy]

Mind blowing, huh? It's precision at it's finest 😁

[@PaulMarshall]

You’re right. Great technique. Thank you!

[@f64Academy]

Thanks!

[@mmjmbanze]

I'm having a eureka moment. What a great video.

[@f64Academy]

Wonderful! That's what I like to hear ;)

[@bala1000mina]

Awesome tutorial!

[@eoslove2022]

You just blew my mind with this! I've been using luminosity masking plugin panels to do this same thing but Blendiff seems to offer more precision with the added benefit of a smaller working file size. With 32GB of RAM my new iMac still slows down as the file size grows closer to 1GB. Even hitting Purge>All doesn't help much. Using Blendiff is now my new modus operandi.

[@f64Academy]

Absolutely! Blend If is so lightweight on processing and file size too.

[@JoeIV_Photography]

Thanks for these tip! I will definitely be incorporating this and the HSL idea into my workflow. Much appreciated!

[@f64Academy]

Woohoo!

[@richardbradley2641]

Mind Blown! You sir are a Wizard.

[@f64Academy]

Haha, thanks, I just experiment A LOT and then share my success ;)

[@margueritewhite3038]

FANTASTIC!!! My notes sheet keeps getting longer and longer! :)

[@f64Academy]

That's great! Keep it up! You'll be rocking and rolling in no time!

[@mikeeckhardt4945]

WOW - Sorcery ! 😉 I've never dived this deep into the topic of "blend if" Blake. To be honest, I've only ever used the gray channel (like most people, I think). I am curious what I will be able to bring out in my next photos. Thank you for the video Blake. Have a good one!

[@f64Academy]

Its so powerful! I rarely teach it this deep because it is very difficult to teach it to that level of depth. Lots of complexities. I hope I did well with it here because it can be tricky to comprehend for sure, but even harder to teach.

[@joshashdown4431]

Same for me Mike, I had only tired the grey option and then when Blake showed you could combine the color and grey, my mind blew.

[@davidabdallah2049]

Oh my God thank you Blake first for the valuable information you always present that’s first and second your passion on doing it. I used to use the luminosity mask for the color grading and always afraid to change anything underneath now after you open up this Sky is the limit. Cheers

[@f64Academy]

For sure! This technique is liberating! I love the freedom it gives you.

[@phadrus]

Very helpful video. I’m having to translate all this to Affinity Photo which is tricky because the blend if in Affinity has a different interface approach. I appreciate the detail and care you teach with.

[@f64Academy]

Thanks! I appreciate your kind words 😁 blend if it's different in Affinity, but most things translate I think. It's been ages since I've used Affinity

[@phadrus]

@@f64Academy the new version that just came out is incredibly competent, a nice alternative to PS for those looking. In some ways, like all the live effects, I think is better.

[@joseangelfernandezgomez6351]

You are the MAN. Thank you very much. Can I get one of those shirts? I am totally sold on blend if. If I could give you a 100 thumbs up I would

[@f64Academy]

Thanks! I love what I do, but seeing and hearing others success is where the real reward is! If you look at any video there should be t shirts under it.

[@MegaPacosanchez]

This was really helpful

[@f64Academy]

So glad!

[@robynaldridge8304]

Well Blake, I'm behind with the videos so I'll have to get cracking. This is one that I'll have to come back and check out again.

[@f64Academy]

😁

[@kenmorris2858]

Excellent. Very helpful....

[@f64Academy]

Glad you think so!

[@_nilcelio]

great very good tips

[@f64Academy]

Glad you like them!

[@MrRuelP]

OPIA - outside the sliders are protected, inside the sliders are affected. This is how I will remember the technique. Thanks for the great tutorial. Update: I tried this one for portrait split toning and it worked well (I got out of my genre box hehe). And that magenta color overlay in the Blend If panel gives a very good view of what is being affected/protected.

[@anshulsharma100]

Thank you so much sir

[@f64Academy]

All the best

[@gooverland4082]

Holy $hit, that works nicely and easy to adapt, thanx

[@f64Academy]

Glad to help

[@chrisrohwer5481]

Blake, another great tutorial. I'll watch again but my question is when in the process is it best to color grade, early or towards the end?

[@f64Academy]

For me it's always at the end. I get my tones and colors accurate first, them color grade. Much better results.

[@chrisrohwer5481]

@@f64AcademyThank you!😎

[@cnicolo]

Beautiful thank you very much ... I have a question... how to add or subtract a part of the “blend if” ? ... make a local selection and tha use a blend if, or we still can use a brush for it? Thank you ☺️

[@f64Academy]

Great suggestion! You could just brush on the mask and brush on the mask.

[@cnicolo]

Thank you ☺️ very good tips

[@EyesSquared]

Excellent, excellent Blake! Wonderful technique, exquisitely explained! Thank you! Question: What if we want to target the midtones? Can we cross the sliders over? (Highlight slider to the left, shadow slider to the right, until they're on opposite sides of each other?)

[@f64Academy]

Yep! You can cross them over.

[@oharax]

This is awesome too. Thank you

[@f64Academy]

😁 my pleasure!

[@delbertbrown343]

Where could one find the color wheel image

[@jlopez7596]

Very well thought out and great presentation of blend if. This helps me improve my learning of creating manually the results of what luminar ai produces. Thank you!!!!! I did not see any portrait type videos on your channel so if this does not fit but i would like to see your aproach for color grading skins tones both light and dark skin tones individually and especially when you have very dark vs veey light people in the same image

[@f64Academy]

Every thing I do can also be used on portraits, you just have to experiment 😎 your turn now!

[@Jon1a]

Is it possible to get similar result ( or control ) in ACR using Range mask ? I try to stay in RAW as long as possible....

[@f64Academy]

Not really. ACR range masking is powerful, for sure, but not this powerful.

[@pereriksson6152]

Amazing!

[@f64Academy]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@gmansshadow]

Best one yet! Yosemite Sam would not be happy with you mispronouncing his name, darn tootin' lol

[@f64Academy]

Hahaha! I remember those cartoons :)

[@fototripper]

I can see how this would be really useful for adding a warmer tone to dodged highlights. It's as if you know something about Photoshop ;)

[@f64Academy]

Haha, I might know a little! But yes, perfect for warming highlights and cooling shadows. I just wish it made my tea too!

[@JackBellesPhotography]

Awesome!

[@tedebaer1]

Thank you!

[@theblacktruth]

Great work. Question: Can blend-if be used to create saturation masks?

[@f64Academy]

Probably. I'm not quite sure of your application for it.

[@theblacktruth]

@@f64Academy ...to be able to modify hsl based on saturation (eg raise saturation on only the areas of low saturation, protecting the already saturated pixels)

[@franciscojaviergarciapadro4615]

Gracias

[@f64Academy]

De nada!

[@estellemc1984]

Wow this is a $1 000 000 tutorial

[@f64Academy]

Sweet!! I'll take it via PayPal 😁

[@dagacola8246]

Awesome video ... thanks !

[@f64Academy]

My pleasure!

[@MrDro1128]

14:18 you read my mind! haha

[@valdemarcaballero5298]

bravo bravo bravoooooooo!!!!!!!!!

[@f64Academy]

[@nishachainani]

Wooow!

[@f64Academy]

:)

[@bobm2410]

Haaaa.....Yos-a-might! I wonder how many people caught that.

[@f64Academy]

🤣

[@mad_cat]

I want a shirt that says, "I Dream in Blend If"

[@f64Academy]

That's a good one 😁

[@goodvibes4014]

Please check, at some places, you completely said the opposites.

[@f64Academy]

My bad! Bear with me, this is one of the most difficult things to teach in Photoshop. Please just consider the education shown and experiment.