EXPOSURE BLENDING | Simple Post Processing Methods

[@PHILI041]

Very informative and to the point. I'm also using Raya Pro and find it very useful, especially for this type of edit. As you point out, it can take a while to get your head around Luminosity Masking but well worth the time and effort. Thanks for sharing.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Phil 👍

[@joshmcdzz6925]

I don't use photoshop and lightroom ( wish I could afford them ).. but learned a great lot from James and I replicated these techniques in darktable and Gimp. It worked like a charm. Good thing is darktable comes with something more powerful than the luminosity mask called parametric mask which you can combine with drawn and grad mask..

[@alfredviale3101]

Best exposure blending video I've seen par none. And I've seen plenty. Thanks!

[@StephenBridgett]

I finally see a value in luminosity masks. Thanks

[@Tigeress8482]

Your pace of speaking and inflections make it very easy and pleasant to listen to you. Sometimes other videos are rushed, thanks for taking your time for people to listen and learn.

[@trevornelson4198]

Excellent information.

[@sejosc1]

This really is by far the best and most comprehensive overview of exposure blending techniques. Great job!

[@trucker5722]

Great very informative video James cheers.

[@tysonator5433]

I did learn a fair bit from this video. Thanks for sharing

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks for watching 👍

[@richardsanders6000]

Thanks! Great intro to exposure blending, and paced so everyone can easily follow.

[@igoroliyarnik5158]

Most helpful video on exposure blending and luminosity masks I found. Thanks!

[@steveschnetzler5471]

"Somewhat down the path, but a long way to go", what a great sentiment. Nice description, thanks..

[@eltinjones4542]

Food for thought especially the Raya Pro James 👍

[@DarrellOakdenPhotography]

Another very interesting video James. Thank you.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Darrell 👍

[@ahmadbarati6347]

One of the best exposure blending videos on KZbin, very useful and effective way of presenting it. I was a bit confused with this subject until I found this video:)

[@ifvt4016]

WOW. This was very well explained. Thank you so much!!

[@paulus0109]

Very well, great, but simple explained James. Thnx

[@tomgriffinphotographyakiwi6150]

Brilliant vid. Loved it, learnt absolutely loads. Thanks. Look forward to next vlog.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Thomas, glad it helped 👍

[@lisakayakstoo]

Thanks for this. I bought Raya Pro, but I’ve been intimidated by it. I’m glad it’s not just me; you’ve taken some of the mystery out of it.

[@noreenoshea2883]

Very well explained!

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Noreen 🙏

[@stsorsby]

Thanks for sharing James, nice and simple explanations, 👍

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks very much 👍

[@darksideemt]

Excellent video and very easy to understand, thanks!

[@bobsmurf1601]

Probably one of the easiest blending tutorials to follow I've seen and also including the luminosity masks is a bonus,same procedure processing focus stacked images,good stuff James.

[@bigbikes750]

Great Video and extremely helpful. Thanks again for the brilliant videos that you make.

[@tommyandersen5325]

I love your straight out explanation of things! - And have followed you for a while. Keep posting these videos. This is a really good channel! Straight to the topic, and very well adressed. You range in my top of youtubers I follow ;)

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Tommy appreciate your support 🙏

[@joshmcdzz6925]

Thanks James.. very great info although the background music is quite intrusive.

[@Tids_]

Intense

[@TotusTraining]

Great intro for me. I am struckling with the costs of filters. You helped me a lot. I wil keep your video in my knowledge base for PS.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Evert glad it helped 👍

[@danielodonoghue3529]

Nice follow up to your previous vlog James.

[@kumarkrishnan8309]

Excellent information, James. I watched this after your video about selling the GND filters. I was contemplating purchasing these and you not only helped me save some $$, but also learned alternative EB processing methods. Thank you!!

[@neilmahon7756]

James, thank you for the video which I found very helpful. Good work. Neil M

[@collegemtl]

Thanks for this great information new subscriber here 👍 , u open my mind to another level , clear info easy to follow, that program for masking looks fantastic 👏 , thanks again

[@reemrazzaq9799]

Thank you James... I love your videos. 👍🏽 Greetings from kuwait 😁

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thank you very much

[@chrishill2489]

Great vlog James again. I don’t use any plug ins and create my own luminosity masks the old fashioned way🤪🤪 with a couple of paracetamol for after 😂😂 I also use the blend if mode which helps but the one I always go to for blending colourful sky to foreground is loading into PS layers, select lightest image out of 2, add a grad filter, hold shift click in the image and drag down.....ping the sky appears and seem less. Jimmy McIntyres plug is is great but it costs money.......I’m to tight too mate... great vlog and great 7nderstanding why the grad filters bit the dust for you💯💯💯💯💯🤪📸✅🤓👍🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Chris much appreciated 👍 respect for creating the masks the old fashioned way!

[@derekgillan7314]

Hdr fast action shots like sport or dramatic sea sport, you can create a duplicate raw at different exposures from the 1 image post processing then blend hdr.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Yeah good point Derek, double processing can work well for HDR too 👍

[@sandykreit1752]

This was very interesting since I have not purchased any ND Filters yet, fairly new photographer. If you can go into a little more depth on the Luminosity Masking and also how to save a file in Photoshop so you can return to nudge those masks if necessary. I have no real understanding of how to save the file and when I return to Photoshop from Lightroom everything is gone. I enjoyed this video very much, thank you to the intro of blending, I believe you saved me a lot of money.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Sandy. If you save your Photoshop files as psd files that means you can return to them and edit the layers whenever you want. Very handy. For more detail on luminosity masking I'd recommend giving Jimmy mcintyres videos a watch, he is the master of it 👍 I may well do a video on the topic but it's likely to be later in the year

[@sandykreit1752]

James Brew thank you James!

[@congngofacemaker3864]

Great !

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Cheers 👍

[@Direkin]

I'm still at the HDR Photomerge stage :P I'm going to try luminosity masking on my past images to see if I can get a better merge.

[@carlmcneill1139]

I have been watching Jimmy McIntyre's exposure blending videos and Raya pro. I'm really considering buying it. I mentioned this on your nd grad video last week that I started out with nd grads and then started using the HDR merge in Lightroom. Now I'm trying to learn about luminosity masks in Photoshop. I've learned most of the things in Lightroom as far as editing goes but I had never really taken time to learn Photoshop. This year I decided to take the plunge. I've been shooting the milky way and adding light painting to it. I usually take about 10 to 12 images for the sky and stack them in Sequator and then use Photoshop to edit the light painted images and then overlay them. I think I can use a luminosity mask for the sky in my milky way shots but I haven't tried it yet. I think you should do your next video on Raya pro. I know I can watch Jimmy's videos but sometimes you learn something new from someone else's perspective on a subject. I think that would be a great follow up video. Or at the very least, show how to make luminosity masks without any plugins, only using Photoshop.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Good idea. I need to get much better with the software first though, as I'm still learning it myself. So that video will have to be later in the year probably 👍

[@DLMlive]

Not to disagree and certainly not to diminish your tutorial, ... auto align will get you 90% at best ... magnifying and reducing the top layer to 50% will hep you move the top layer to the last degree of alignment. Usually the "barrel effect" when changing the cameras aperture to capture the two images or more can add further alignment issues. Using "Select"... then "Color Range" in PS will do the same as any of the"plug in add-ons" described... as a tip ... choosing the luminosity mode for essentially dodging and burning each layer will give you even more control. The available dynamic range information in the shadows and highlights can be addressed even further by utilizing the "blend If" and understanding fill vs opacity with the available 27 luminosity modes available. The biggest challenge will always be correcting color once you revealed the area the sensor was capable of recording. I do like your video's, Nice work!

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Some great tips there! Thanks, I'm no expert so these are useful 👍

[@andychattaway5620]

Great video James, Luminosity Masks are definitely they way to go. I recently bought Greg Benz's Lumenzia which I am learning, but it has so much potential compared to nd grads. 👍

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Andy. Yeah once you get the hang of them it makes you think why you persevered with the filters for so long 👍

[@brabs2754]

Hey James Ive had RayaPro since v3 and never got a handle on it, your slow succinct explanation makes the process much better .... sorry Jimmy.

[@barry10ish]

James take a look at Tony Kuypers luminosity panels

[@sergioc.p.7845]

Hi James! A "must have" video. Another must have could be the one who you explain how to blend different exposures and different shutter speeds together. For example, when you are in the forest with a very high dynamic range, and the wind moves the leaves, and you want to take a photo with all perfectly sharp. Two or three photos for bracketing, and one with high speed to froze the movement. How to blend all of them? Thanx for share, your effort and time. Congrats!

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks Sergio. The approach is much the same. The key difference is where ghosting is a problem between vegetation that has moved, I will generally take another exposure at a high shutter speed and Iso to try freeze frame the motion. I will then use a small paint brush to make targeted edits to paint in the sharper foliage from this image as needed. Hope that makes sense 👍

[@sergioc.p.7845]

@@JamesBrewphoto That's what I tried but I don't liked the result. I think I need to "battle" a little more with photoshop. Thanx again, and keep on pushing! ;-)

[@robertfalcon6648]

At last some one explained blending two exposure in a simple way.

[@paulm8157]

Ah, by popular demand, master chef Brew reveals his exposure blending secret sauce. Well done, James! Keys are masking brush opacity changes and luminosity masking. Will try the approach myself. Would the recently added luminosity masking feature in LR be of use? Cheers.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks very much Paul - yeah the range masks in Lightroom are pretty good options too. A nice way to make more targeted edits for sure 👍

[@philiptata3607]

Well paced presentation thank you. However I found the music distracting from your clear vocal style.The more elaborate luminosity masking in photo shop it’s probably a stretch for quite a few amateurs, in terms of learning curve et cetera. Also there are of course other solutions. Thanks again.

[@jphouhton5337]

You still have to use grad filters if you shoot 5x4 film.

[@josebainakielorriagaarriet2066]

Usually i make the blending like your third option,but helping with the loop in phothoshop and other tools ,like sharpenned.....

[@davidlr97]

It’s also possible to do luminosity masking without a plug-in using channel masks

[@Dave-sb4iy]

Hi James, great video, I learned how to do properly what I’d been trying to do trial & error and getting frustrated! I use LrC, and Ps but only when necessary, so beginner yet I’m trying to improve. Just one question to someone with much more knowledge and experience; would you recommend editing the images in Lr first, then blending in Ps; or, blending, then editing? Many thanks.

[@1spitfirepilot]

That is a very good and helpful video -many thanks. I have used HDR before, a lot, but I am now going to try exposure blending with masks painting, you showed (the 2nd method). I'm off to the Northumberland coast and I am sure it'll be better than HDR. I have a question, possibly a very dumb one: at the end of the process, how do I finish and save the final (blended) image? do I instruct photoshop to combine images? or do I click on the base image and just save that, knowing it'll all be there?

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Thanks very much. If you start in lightroom like I did, select the images, right click and edit as stack in photoshop. Then once you are done, if you simply save in PS, it will create a new tif file which is automatically brought back into your lightroom library 👍

[@1spitfirepilot]

James Brew Thanks, James!

[@rodolfo-romero]

Hi James, I recently subscribed to your channel and I’m enjoying very much your videos. I was wondering if you have tried the local adjustments in Lightroom (brushes, graduated filter, etc). These days they seem to be much powerful and can help to add more control to the exposure adjustment process. Maybe you could do a video about it and see how it compares to the other methods that you explained in this video.

[@TheMountainman38]

Are you Thomas Heatons brother? 🤣😉

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Lol the hair is looking pretty similar isn't it. Mine has been shaved off now thankfully 👌

[@VonGuller]

Great tutorial. No need for the background music.

[@michaeltownsend7769]

Great video thanks , I have been contemplating getting a full set of nd grads recently this could be a good alternative with say the kase magnetic filters, looking at website there seems to be lots of various items to buy which do you use just raya pro 5 or any other of his packs

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Cheers Michael, I just have Raya Pro 5. It's pretty affordable 👍

[@martin2do]

If you don't want to buy an extension for photoshop you can also go to select -> by colour -> and choose the luminosity you want.

[@torreviejadigitalcameraclu3519]

I am so sorry but I cannot listen to both you and the background music although I love your videos and am very interested in the topic.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Sorry about that. The music is mixed in at my usual db rating so not sure why it seemed louder for you. I always try my best to get it right but maybe I dropped the ball this time. If you listen to the video on a lower overall volume that will probably help a bit 👍

[@torreviejadigitalcameraclu3519]

@@JamesBrewphoto Many thanks James. I sorted it by changing the sound in my graphic equaliser on my Mac and it is a great video by the way.

[@gbee8888]

@@JamesBrewphoto Sorry but that music is irritating at any volume.

[@ifvt4016]

I thought the music was enticing and made me focus more. Honestly, I'm super impressed !!!

[@mistycrowimages1875]

Thanks James I always look at your vlogs, on a lighter note have you noticed all the faces you pull :o) Mind you I do the same. Cheers!

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Haha - yeah I have. I look deranged 😂

[@jnrickards]

Wait, did you say, at 6:20ish, that black hides and white reveals? That's backwards.

[@JamesBrewphoto]

That's correct. Just look at the masks I create. White reveals the layer, black hides.

[@Dreyno]

I’m so crap at Photoshop I had to google how to change the brush from black to white 😄

[@colacadm]

Quick tip: To switch the colours, hit the letter X on the keyboard.

[@Dreyno]

Fred Preston Thanks. I found it eventually. I’m so comfortable with Lightroom but I find Photoshop intimidating. Need to practice more.

[@josephlee3558]

Would Photoshop’s “Colour Range” mask function make a good substitute for a luminosity masking method, Steve, do you think? BTW, it’s aitch, not haitch...

[@evtimstefanov8377]

It is so weird I can't see those hdr, panorama options active when i click on photo merge... Do you know why mate?

[@mickcalvert4514]

Where do I get that plugin had to turn the volume off because of the music

[@JamesBrewphoto]

Details in video description

[@barry10ish]

James why the music ? it s a definite spoiler.

[@richardinwood5671]

The music adds no value to what is a very interesting concept

[@svenskbibel]

I really would like to see this video. But sorry, I couldn’t. The torturous "music" in the background force me to turn the loud off and just have the text. But that was not good either because then I must turn my eyes of from your editing. So after just a few minutes it was so agonizing so I have to quit.

[@jaspreetsidhu5708]

It wasn't that bad mate...........