Luminosity Masking Photoshop Panel

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Table Of Contents

Table of Contents 1 Introduction 4 What are luminosity masks 5 Creating Luminosity masks 6 Luminance Layer. 9 Luminosity Masking Panel Introduction 11 Semi Theme Based Interface. 12 Panel Options 13 Highlights Mid-tones & shadows 16 Large Adjustment Layer Window 17 Luminance Layer 18 Target Zones 19 Contrast Painting 20 Utilities 22 Typical Digital Workﬂow 24 Conclusion 26

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LUMINOSITY MASKING PHOTOSHOP PANEL:

The Luminosity Masking Panel has been designed to conform to the new requirements set out by Adobe for Photoshop versions CC and above. The panel is based on HTML5 and Javascript.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Photoshop CC or above

2. Windows or Mac operating systems

Introduction

Having used Photoshop on a regular basis for many years, it never ceases to amaze me that every day I seem to find something new which I never knew existed and no doubt will continue to do so for years to come.

It doesn’t matter if you work in the traditional wet dark room or use a digital work flow using computer software to create the final photograph through your creative vision, the whole process should be taken just as serious as when you actually made the initial exposure.

Throughout my own digital workflow, I am always striving to make it as streamline and as fluent as possible and this is why I have started to make my own custom panel extensions which sit very comfortably inside the Photoshop interface.

The “Luminosity Masking” panel is a collection of routines which have been designed to help with building contrast selectively through the use of carefully constructed luminosity layer masks.

Programming the functions and routines directly into the panel has made it more streamline to use without the need for external actions to be loaded.

Throughout this document I will be referring to different keyboard keys. Today, my main computer that I use is an Apple iMac Desktop computer and therefore some of the keystrokes may be different to those on a Windows based operating system.

For example, CMD on a Mac is equivalent to Ctrl on Windows and Option on the Mac is equivalent to ALT on Windows.

Although the Luminosity Masking Panel appears to resemble similarities to the Contrast Masking panel which I created some time ago, it has completely been re-coded from the ground upwards to conform to Adobe Photoshop CC and future versions.

What Are Luminosity Masks

Luminosity Masks allow us to make specific selections based on luminosity, or in other words, the brightness of a pixel.

We use luminance masks to separate areas of different tones or brightness in an image. Luminance masking is not new and has been written about and used for many years.

Many articles have been written on the subject of which some try to explain in a very sophisticated way what they are but what it boils down to is that they allow us to make more refined selections for each area of tone or brightness.

One of the advantages of using this type of mask is that unlike regular selections, they create a smooth feathering effect.

Unlike masks which are made with traditional selection tools, they create a selection which overlap with adjacent tones which give smooth transitions and maintain smooth tonal gradations or transitions throughout the image.

Creating a regular selection and then applying a feather to that selection does not overlap which can result in harsh transitions between selections when making adjustments.

Luminosity masks are built and stored as individual Alpha channels in Photoshop.

Creating Luminosity Masks

Luminosity masks are relatively simple to create but at the same time can be very time-consuming due to the number of individual required steps. For example, from the background layer pressing the command and option keys as well as the number 2 key will create a mask based on the highlights which range from roughly zone six all the way to roughly zone eight.

In the above image we can see this selection which is indicated by the marching ants. We can then save the selection to the channels by simply pressing the add selection to channels option which is located at the bottom of the channels Palette.

We can use this selection as a starting point to create further selections of the highlight areas. We do that by intersecting the initial selection and breaking it down into different segments sometimes referred to as zones. To create an intersection of the mask, we hold down the option, command and shift key whilst at the same time clicking on the selection that we previously made.

The following image of a step wedge which goes from black to White shows us what it looks like as we intersect previously created masks for the highlights area of the step wedge indicated by the marching ants.

If we want to create masks based on the darker areas or the shadow values of the step wedge all that we need to do is invert the initial mask.

For example, pressing Option, Command and 2 on the keyboard will give us the initial selection on the highlights and to invert the mask, we press the keys shift command and I.

We can then use the same technique that we used on the highlights to intersect the shadow area and create individual masks for the different shadow zones.

The process of creating the masks can be time-consuming because of the number of individual steps which are required in each operation. It is for this reason why I have programmed them all into one Panel for ease of use.

No Actions

One of the reasons I decided to integrate everything into one panel rather than having separate Actions was to make the entire process more user friendly.

Over the years of using Photoshop, I have found that having a large number of individual actions in the action palette can lead to confusion and it is something else that we need to worry about if we ever need to reinstall Photoshop or move over to a new computer.

Luminance Layer.

In the previous examples we looked at how to create the individual masks from the image background layer.

In the digital workflow especially when starting out with a colour image, it is more desirable to create our luminosity masks based upon the luminance values. In other words our goal is to separate the colour information from the luminance values.

If we were to create individual masks and then apply adjustment layers to those masks we also run the risk of changing the values of the actual colours which is something which we want to avoid because we are only interested in the luminance values of the image.

So far, I haven’t come across an easy way in photoshop which allows us to extract the luminance/brightness values from within an image without actually making any changes to the colour information.

The solution to this problem is to use the Adobe HSB/HSL Photoshop plug-In Filter.

The HSB/HSL filter is activated quietly in the background whenever you press the Luminance button on the panel.

The HSB/HSL filter will basically extract the colour information and retain the luminance values. Effectively this will produce a greyscale image.

The blending mode of the luminance layer is set to Luminosity which will allow the colour information of the file to show through the layer.

One point I would like to make at this stage is that the colour image may looked a little less saturated which is because we are actually looking at the Luminosity.

Changing the blend to normal will show the underlying image in greyscale as we have extracted or discarded all the colour information from within the file.

Using the Luminance with the blend mode set to Normal can also give us a good starting point for our black and white conversion.

As we start to look more closely at the Luminosity Masking panel I will show you how we can use the luminance layer in our editing workflow.

Luminosity Masking Panel Introduction

To conform with the Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 and hopefully future releases, the Luminosity Masking panel has been recreated from the ground upwards.

For those that maybe familiar with my Contrast Masking panel which was released some time ago, you will probably see that the Luminosity Masking panel looks very similar.

As technology improves and through extensive research I have managed to learn new techniques which has allowed me to incorporate them into the new custom extension panel.

This new Photoshop panel (Luminosity Masking) will work on any versions of Photoshop CC including the new 2017 version for both Windows and Mac operating systems.

The panel will NOT WORK on any versions of Photoshop prior to Photoshop CC.

Semi Teme Based Interface.

The user interface for the Luminosity Masking panel is semi theme based which means the outer section will change to match the colours of the Photoshop Interface which you have chosen to use.

Changing themes in Photoshop is accomplished by going to the Preferences option in Photoshop.

Fixed Dimensions

The panel has fixed dimensions which are 800px high and 260px wide. The panel should fit comfortably on most desktop and laptop based computers.

Accessing The Panel

After the panel has been installed, open Photoshop and access the panel from the Window -> Extensions Menu located in the top toolbar.

Panel Options

The panel is divided into three separate sections.

The first section provides options for creating individual masks based on either the highlights 1 the mid tones or the shadows found within the image.

The highlight, shadow and mid tone masking options have been separated depending upon the overall strength of the effect.

Each of these buttons when pressed will analyse the image and automatically place a curves adjustment Layer on top of your current layer stack.

There is also an option in this section to further enhance the luminosity mask by allowing you either paint in or paint out the effect.

Paint In This will place your selected luminosity mask into a group and a black mask will be applied to the group. Simply paint in the effect by using at the brush tool and setting the foreground colour to white.

Paint Out This will place your selected luminosity mask into a group and a white mask will be applied to the group. Simply paint out the effect by using at the brush tool and setting the foreground colour to black.

The second section (Target Zones) provides the option to create individual masks based on selected zones ranging from zone 0 through to zone 10. 2

Zone 0 Zone 0

The third section contains access to the Contrast Painting tools, Smart Clarity, Black and White Conversion, Dodge and Burn, Stamp Visible Large adjustment window and Luminance layer. 3

The Contrast Painting offers the ability to selectively paint on to an area of interest and then you can manipulate the contrast through either pressing the detail or brightness button depending on whether you need to bring out detail or just increase or decrease the overall brightness of the selected area.

To begin with, you may find it difficult to mentally analyse the image and be able to determine which part of the image contains either the correct highlights, Mid-tones, shadows especially when we have at least five options of each segment to choose from.

To familiarise yourself with where the different tones fall within an image, I would suggest that you create a simple visual step wedge which will help you build up a mental picture of each of the 11 zones.

To build a step wedge in Photoshop which contains 11 individual zones ranging from pure black to pure white follow these simple steps.

Create a new document which is 6 inches long and 1 inches high at 72dpi.

Set the foreground colour to black and the background colour to White, take the gradient tool and draw out a gradient from left to right, holding the shift key will allow you to draw the gradient in a straight line.

From the photoshop menu select image then adjustments and choose posterize. In the posterize dialogue box choose 11 levels.

By creating this gradient or step wedge we can experiment with all the individual options to adjustment masks which will help us understand where the different tones fall within an image.

Highlights Mid-Tones & Shadows

We use the options in this section to apply masks based on whether we need to target the highlights, shadows or mid-tones. Selecting All will load all the masks in one go for the corresponding areas.

Until you familiarise yourself with the different brightness areas within an image, it is advisable to load all the masks and then study the individual layer masks where you will be able to see where the effect will take place.

Any areas within the layer mask which are completely black will not be affected by the curves adjustment.

Any areas within the layer mask which are completely white will be affected 100% by the curves adjustment.

Any areas which fall between black-and-white i.e. grey, we'll have some effect and the strength of the effect is dependent upon how dark the grey values are.

Large Adjustment Layer Window

At the bottom of the shadow masking panel there is one large button which is called “large ADJ layers window”.

The large adjustment layers window button when pressed will open up the traditional floating adjustments window which were present back in Photoshop Versions CS3. Although the adjustment layers in Photoshop CC are conveniently placed in their own subsection usually on the right hand side of the interface, personally I sometimes prefer to use the traditional floating window which were present in previous versions.

This floating window can be used with any adjustment layers.

Luminance Layer

The last option on this section is the option to create the luminance layer which we mentioned earlier.

If we are starting out with a colour file then in order to create true luminance masks we need to be working on the luminance values and not be concerned with the colour information in the coloured image.

As a general rule I prefer to create the target zones or any other masks which are to control tonality through the use of other cares are level adjustments on top of the luminance layer.

Any adjustments made to the image which will affect colour, for example vibrance or saturation, I prefer to make these adjustments on top of the background layer and underneath the luminance layer.

Creating a luminance layer must be done from a pixel based layer and not an adjustments layer. Once it has been created, it will be placed on its own layer and the blending mode will be set to Luminosity.

Note: The image may look less saturated which is because we are now looking at the pure luminance values contained within the image.

Target Zones

The target zones section is used to create individual masks based on selective zones. In total there are 11 zones ranging from zone 0 all the way through to zone 10.

As previously mentioned these types of selections are referred to as self feathering which will give you a transition from one tone to another so therefore it is important to understand that adjacent zones to the selected one will also be affected to some degree.

For example, if we chose to make a mask based on the zone 5, the selection would also feather out to zones 4 and possibly zones 6 which will give you an overall better selection.

After choosing a target zone, the selection will then be made and you will be asked to apply the selection to your desired adjustment. Usually curves is a good choice here. TARGETED ZONE 5 adjacent zones are affected

Contrast Painting

The contrast painting section allows us to paint selectively paint contrast in a given area of your choice.

Having the ability to paint contrast selectively with a brush does have it's advantages especially as you can see the areas from which the selection will be made from.

To use the paint contrast tool, press the paint contrast button which will automatically switch to a Brush tool and set the foreground colour set to black.

As you start to paint over the area of interest you will notice a Red coloured overlay appear in the areas which you are painting.

Use both the opacity and flow options for the Brush tool to control how much of an effect you want to apply.

I personally find that using a Wacom Tablet allows me very precise control over where I am painting and also has the advantage of allowing me to use the pressure sensitivity options.

Once the area of interest has been painted either press the detail or brightness button depending on whether you want to increase contrast and detail or just the brightness in the area which you have just painted.

Pressing the detail button will apply that selection automatically to a levels adjustment mask and pressing the brightness button will apply that selection to a curves adjustment mask respectively.

Utilities

The final four options on the panel are additional options and may be used throughout you're editing workflow.

Smart Clarity: The smart clarity option can be used at any stage through your editing process. Think of smart clarity as creative sharpening as this allows us to sharpen different parts of the image independently of one another.

Selecting the smart clarity option will create a stamped Smart object layer and apply a preset value of 1.9 high pass filter as a smart filter. It will then hide the effect by filling the smart filter mask with black.

The reason for the smart objects and smart filter is that it allows us to go backwards and forwards and change the overall effect of the high pass strength non-destructively.

You will also notice that the image has been zoomed in to 100%. Using a white brush with a soft edge start to paint the areas where you want to increase clarity or sharpening. Take control of the brush by using both the opacity and flow options which can be found in the top toolbar of Photoshop.

Because the smart clarity is now a smart filter we have the ability to change the initial high pass radius setting by pressing on the word High Pass under the smart filters.

Black and White Conversion The black and white conversion option opens the black-and-white adjustment panel. As this is an adjustment panel you can use the floating option by pressing the large adjustment panel window option found under the shadow options at the top of the panel. Dodge and Burn The Dodge and burn option creates a new layer with a blending mode set to soft light. Using the Brush tool and the opacity and flow options start painting on the dodge and burn.

To burn an area use a black brush and to dodge an area use a white brush. As a general rule, setting the opacity to 100% and the flow rate to about 3 or 4% will allow you greater control throughout the dodge and burning process. Stamp Visible The Stamp Visible option will create a stamp visible layer on top of your layer stack. By creating a stamp visible layer all the layers beneath it including any adjustment layers are kept intact.

Creating a stamp visible layer can sometimes be useful if we want to go out to a third-party plug-in such as Nik software. The reason for this is that most third party plug-ins such as Nik software expect to receive a pixel-based layer and not an adjustment layer.

Typical Digital Workfow

A typical digital workflow usually starts by bringing in the colour photograph into Photoshop having passed it through a RAW converter such as Adobe Camera RAW or Lightroom.

I use the raw converter to fix any inconsistencies in the image such as white balance shadow or highlight detail and also any lens corrections and camera profiles that need to be applied.

Once the image is in Photoshop it has been assigned a working colour space set by your Photoshop Colour Settings and is now an RGB file (sort of). I say sort of because until you actually hit the Save button, it is really still in what I call Limbo Land. My preferred working colour space is pro photo RGB.

Regardless of your own preferred working Colour Space it is important to remain consistent so if you're preferred working colour space is Adobe RGB 1998, make sure that your raw converter has also been set up to transfer the image into Photoshop in the Adobe 1998 working colour space.

Inside of Photoshop if needed I'll correct any colour issues which the image may have by the use of adjustment layers such as vibrance, Photo Filter, Hugh saturation , etc. Tese adjustment layers are placed directly above the background layer.

When I need to start and make any tonal adjustments which is usually done through either the use of levels or curves, I will start by creating the luminance layer.

Any adjustment masking layers such as shadows, highlights, mid tones or individual target zones will be performed on top of the luminance layer.

“By placing any tonal adjustment layers on top of the luminance layer, we will only be making adjustments to the luminosity values of the image and the colour will not be affected because the blend mode of the luminosity layer is set to Luminosity.”

Digital Black and White Editing

When editing for black and white we have several options we can choose from.

After all the colour adjustments have been made, we can flatten the layer and convert the image to black and white with our preferred method and then start to build the luminosity and zone masks or …

We can simply change the blending mode of the luminosity layer from Luminosity to Normal which will give us a grey scale image from which you can start to build your contrast, creative sharpening or any other effects which match your aesthetic requirements.

Conclusion

Hopefully you will see the power of both luminosity masking, Luminosity Masking and the benefits the panel have to offer throughout your entire workflow.

Like most things, you will need to set your self a little time to understand what each of the individual controls do and I strongly advise you to do this through experimentation.

The Luminosity Masking Photoshop Extension is available on my Digital Black and White Website:- www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

I hope you enjoy using this panel and find it useful within your own editing workflow. Should you have any questions or queries these do not hesitate to contact me and I'll do my upmost to answer them in a timely manner.

Resources:

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REFERENCES

Ansel Adams. The Negative. Little, Brown and Company, 2002 The luminosity masks are based on the luminosity masks tutorials developed by Tony Kuyper.