exposure blending

the complete guide from camera to process

the art of landscape photography

by christopher o’donnell
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table of contents
04 introduction

10 before you autobracket

26 how to autobracket

48 simple blending

57 advanced blending

66 luminosity masks

84 finishing touches

101 about christopher

introduction
Exposure blending is a revolutionary digital darkroom technique that will assist you in
overcoming the limitations of your camera and capture a scene with the full tonal range you
witnessed in the field. This is a common challenge for any area of photography, but landscape
photographers find this especially difficult since we typically can not manipulate or alter the
ambient light. You’ve probably recognized this challenge in your own work: an overexposed
sky, a foreground with crushed shadows, or a disappointing combination of the two. The
incredible detail and light you witnessed in person has disappeared, and you instead go home
with a lackluster representation of the beauty you intended to capture.

Since your camera sensor (the digital equivalent to a negative) is limited to one aperture and
one shutter speed across the same frame, it’s difficult to capture a scene with a dynamic tonal
range without some areas falling outside of your selected exposure, which produce blown
highlights and/or crushed shadows. Exposure blending is one way to recover this lost data for
a more accurate rendering of your scene.

5
6
Simply put, in order to capture the full tonal
range of a scene that extends outside of darkest tones

what your sensor can render, you’ll need to

combine different exposures together. The
number of exposures you need depends on
how large your tonal range is, but typically
brightest tones
you’ll have one exposure metered for your
highlights (a faster shutter speed to limit
light), one for your shadows (a slower shutter
speed to let more light in), and one as
your base exposure (the average metering
between your highlights and shadows).
This is where the term “bracketing” comes
in since you’re creating a bracket that
encapsulates your entire tonal range, from
brightest to darkest.
Exposure blending can also be referred to as HDR blending in the sense that we’re expanding the tonal
range, however this method will create a more natural looking image than tone-mapping with automated
software. With exposure blending, you have much more control over the end result by manually choosing
exactly where you want to blend your exposures together, and at what strength you want that blend to be.
It’s a method that is entirely customizable to your scene, which will produce a more pleasing result.
sky (EV -2)

middleground (ev +/-0)

foreground (EV +2)

The group of images on the previous page shows how you can take three different exposures of the same
scene and combine the best parts of each one to create a final image that has no loss of data for a complete
tonal range. By using a combination of written instructions and video tutorials, I’ll teach you how to achieve a
seamless blend of exposures so you can fully enjoy your photography by overcoming your camera limitations.
before you autobracket
 The need to bracket a scene in order to capture the
ev -2
entire tonal range is quite common, which is why camera
manufacturers have made it easy to photograph the same
subject at different exposures. “Autobracketing” is a fantastic
feature available on most DSLRs, which allows you to take
multiple exposures automatically without having to change
your shutter speed manually.
ev 0

When you set your camera to autobracket, it takes three

(sometimes more) sequential images at different shutter
speeds, usually 2 full stops apart. This helps to streamline
your workflow when presented with a wide tonal range that
one exposure can not contain. The amount of stops between

ev +2 each exposure can be adjusted depending on your scene,

and for most situations three different exposure values (EV)
capturing a four stop range will be sufficient: your base
exposure (EV +/-0), an exposure to recover blown highlights
(EV -2), and another to recover any crushed shadows (EV +2).
 sky detail from ev -2

middleground detail from ev +/- 0

foreground detail from ev +2

 the power of raw
Your exposure blending capabilities depend greatly on the quality of your brackets; a basic image
format will give you basic results. However, the more data you have to work with, the easier it will be to
blend multiple exposures together. This is especially important for expansive tonal ranges which require
a more intricate blending workflow. In other words, the best exposure blend begins with the strongest
foundation to build your image upon, and that foundation is RAW format.

A RAW file is the digital equivalent of a film negative before it is printed onto paper; it’s the “raw” state
of your image that you can’t really use as a photo, but all the information you need to create a photo is
there. You can’t upload a RAW file to your website or email it to others without special viewing software,
but you can take that RAW file and turn it into a universal format (such as TIFF or JPG) once you have
finished with your processing. There are many specific benefits of RAW format over JPG, but it all comes
down to a higher-quality image as you are working in the pure, uncompressed state of your photograph,
which is essential for exposure blending.

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 bit depth
RAW format is notable for its enormous color depth (also known as bit depth) when compared to the
more universal JPG. With a RAW image, you are working with a minimum of 12-bits, which translates
to 4,096 tones for each of the three color channels (red, green, and blue). However, JPG is limited
to 8-bits, which gives you only 256 tones for each channel. Technically, RAW format is immensely
superior to JPG as there is much more data contained for each color channel.

While 4,096 tones for each channel may seem excessive, consider this: the more data you have to
work with, the easier it is to maintain color integrity. When blending different exposures together,
this becomes extremely important as you may need to call on that extra data to recover your crushed
shadows and blown highlights (explained later). If you have the ability to use a more sophisticated
format, it makes sense to use it as exposure blending is entirely dependent on recovering as much
detail as possible. For the purpose of exposure blending, this additional data gives you an enormous
advantage over JPG when adjusting your exposure, and will also reduce processing artifacts (such as
posterization) later on if you decide to process your image further after blending.

14
Here you can see how the expanded
color depth of RAW can benefit your
photography. This sunset image was
originally overexposed for the sky, and as
a result important cloud detail was lost to
blown highlights. To reverse this, I would
need to reduce my exposure and bring
back that lost sky interest.
exposure reduced by 2 stops as jpg

When I work in JPG mode and reduce the

exposure by two full stops (top), not much
detail has been recovered since an 8-bit
file has a very limited range to work with.
However, when I use a RAW file of the
same exact photograph (bottom), which
is uncompressed, you can see how much
more detail is recovered when I adjust the
exposure down by two full stops. exposure reduced by 2 stops as raw file
 raw adjustments vs. autobracketing
With RAW being such a versatile format, why
is there a need to autobracket when you can
create multiple exposures straight from one
RAW file? It would save time spent on setting
up a tripod, taking three (or more) images, and
also save on disk space. Isn’t RAW a magical
exposure recovery tool?
It’s always best to capture the optimal exposure
for a scene in-camera simply because you’ll
have more data in a correctly exposed image
than one that has been adjusted artificially, even
if it’s in RAW. The more data that is rendered
onto your sensor, the more detail your image
will have. RAW has its limitations; it does not
give you the power to shoot blindly with no
regard to exposure.
One substantial benefit to bracketing a scene
vs. adjusting a RAW file is that the exposure
recovery power of RAW is typically limited to
+/- two full stops before the quality begins to
deteriorate. Depending on the tonal range of
your scene, you may need 3 stops, 5 stops, or
even more between your longest and shortest
bracket in order to recover all of the detail.
Recovery limits aside, capturing an exposure
that has been adjusted in-camera vs. adjusting
a RAW file by the same number of stops will
always give you the higher quality photograph.
 unrecovered details
exposure reduced by 2 stops as raw file
recovered details
exposure reduced by 2 stops as a bracket
The recovery capabilities of RAW format
should not be a replacement for bracketing
a scene, and here we can see why. The top
image is the same example used on page
15: a RAW file that has been reduced by
two full stops in processing. The bottom
frame is the same exact scene, but is a
bracket that was captured two stops less
in-camera, so no exposure adjustment was
needed in process. When you compare
the cloud detail between each example,
you can see how much more data was
recovered by bracketing. This comparison
shows that instead of trying to recover
missing detail in processing, you’ll obtain
a better result if you adjust your exposure
in the field.
 why autobracket in raw?

If it’s better to adjust your exposure in-camera rather than as a RAW file, why even bother with
RAW at all and instead autobracket in JPG?

Although RAW can not replace autobracketing, it’s still a file format that has many benefits over
JPG and should be used when you bracket. Not only is there more data in RAW format, but you’ll
greatly increase your tonal range for editing. If you autobracket in JPG format, you’ll typically be
taking three images: your base image, one taken two stops faster, and another two stops slower,
for a total range of four stops. However, if you shoot in RAW format, you can increase or decrease
your brackets by two stops in process. That safety net will add another two full stops to your
range on both ends of your bracket, bringing your total tonal range up to eight stops (assuming
you capture three brackets in two-stop increments).

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Blending exposures using one RAW file is best for
those candid shots where you didn’t have enough
time to set up a tripod but need to correct some
blown highlights, or simply want to brighten/
darken parts of your image - like in wedding or
action photography. It’s a fantastic way to save
an otherwise unusable photo, but if you have the
time and ability to autobracket your landscape for
exposure blending, this is the method which will
give you the highest quality output with the largest
tonal range.
Exposure blending and bracketing is not just for
combining bright skies with dark foregrounds;
you can use it in many different ways as part of a
non-destructive workflow. You can recover blown
highlights in water reflections, bring back detail
lost to the shadow of a tree, or to blend a brighter
foreground with a darker background (like under
stormy, overcast skies).
Another popular use of this technique is to blend
different long exposures together - for example,
blending an extended exposure that captures
moving clouds with an image that shows stationary
grass that would otherwise be windswept if taken at
the same shutter speed as the sky.
Now that you know why we autobracket for
exposure blending, it’s time to go over the in-camera
workflow; the process I go through to capture those
bracketed images to later blend in process.
The success of your exposure blending
is entirely dependent on how accurately
you autobracket your scene. Exposure
blending is a method of recovery and
can not create a stunning photo for you,
but it can greatly improve what you have
already photographed.

In this section, I’ll explain how to

autobracket the correct way so you can
capture the entire tonal range of your
scene. I’ll also discuss how to bracket
your images manually for those instances
where autobracketing is too limiting for
your environment.
 stabilization
The smallest amount of prevention can
save you much frustration during the
blending process, and it starts with camera
stability. Since you’re blending multiple
exposures together of the same scene,
it’s necessary to have each exposure align
perfectly in order to combine them without
errors, such as ghosting (which I will explain
later). The key to perfect alignment is (1)
a solid mount for your camera and (2) the
prevention of any vibrations, even the
most minor, which could slightly alter your
composition or soften your focus.
the tripod
While you can certainly capture your scene
handheld (if you have enough light), a stable
camera mount is almost mandatory for bracketing.
When you bracket a scene, it’s of the utmost
importance that each image will align perfectly
when you blend them together later in the digital
darkroom. A stable tripod will ensure that your
camera can not move, and that each exposure
you photograph will be identical in composition
as even the most minor movement can produce
errors in blending.
Composition aside, a tripod will eliminate any
chance of soft focus due to camera shake, allowing
you to concentrate more on your composition (click
here to learn more about camera shake and shutter
speed). While your initial metering may produce a
shutter speed fast enough to use handheld, your
longest exposure (metered for your shadow detail)
may be on the cusp of that limit, and could produce
soft focus for that bracket. This is especially true for
golden hour images where you’ll typically be using
a small aperture for a deep depth of field, be in
an environment with limited available light, and be
working with a wide range of exposure values to
capture all of your tones. Instead of finding this out
after you begin your bracketing - or even worse,
once you get home and look at your brackets in
greater detail - it’s far easier to prevent this in the
field by using a stable camera mount.
When I originally chose my tripod, I selected a model that
offered supreme stability since I use exposure blending often
in my work. The Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 carbon fiber tripod
legs has several wonderful features that I knew would greatly
benefit my exposure blending workflow.

The greatest feature I found with these particular legs was

how fluid and easily you can switch the center column from
vertical to horizontal mode, allowing me to get extremely
close to ground level. To
switch, it’s simply a matter of
fully extending the center column, pressing a button, and folding the
column down. When working in horizontal mode with the legs fully
extended, you can achieve a ground height of only 4.5 inches, which is
an impressive vantage point to have with a stable camera mount (left).
With my older Manfrotto model, I had to completely disassemble the center column and carefully align
it horizontally. I can tell you from much experience that attempting to do this while racing the dissipating
light of a sunset or in subzero temperatures with bulky gloves is not an ideal situation. I often work at
ground level, so for my particular workflow, this was a huge improvement and has saved me much time
and frustration in the field.

Since this is a Manfrotto, there are certain qualities you come to expect, and the Manfrotto 055CXPRO3
carbon fiber tripod legs are no exception. The most basic and important function of a tripod is a stable
mount and the elimination of any vibrations, which is essential for bracketing. The 055CXPRO3 is one of
their larger models (these legs can reach a max height of 68.9 inches fully extended), and a larger model
equates to a more stable, secure mount: the max load of 17.6 lbs gives you plenty of breathing room for
your heavier lenses. Despite the larger size, carbon fiber construction is light in weight; not only has this
made it easy for me to carry on extended hikes, but it also performs fantastically at absorbing vibrations.

24
To be able to quickly realign my composition (fantastic for stitching) without
having to adjust a knob on my tripod head each and every time has been a
huge advantage to my in-the-field workflow. When I was looking to upgrade
my older model, I first viewed its successor, the Manfrotto 327RC2 Joystick
Head, and knew I found the perfect replacement.

The quick-release plate allows you to easily attach your camera to the tripod with no fuss or delay, and
the locking pin secures your camera into place. My favorite part about the this lens is the joystick design;
it’s not only ergonomic, but allows you to simply grip and reposition along both vertical and horizontal
axes at once as opposed to adjusting knobs for each and every movement. Despite the free-flowing
design, precision movement is another great feature as you can still achieve controlled adjustments for
your composition.

By using this tripod or one of similar construction, you can have the confidence that your composition is
locked into place and any environmental vibrations will be absorbed to a great capacity. Your blending
result is entirely dependent on the quality of your brackets, and taking every precautionary step to ensure
that your camera is on a solid mount will save you much time and frustration during process later.
how to autobracket
Now that you have a stable and reliable mount, you can
begin to autobracket your scene. Before you adjust your
camera settings, you need to ensure that your mount
is secure and your focus is set properly. Unsuccessful
brackets are usually the result of small and preventable
errors, so it’s worth the extra time spent to prepare than
to walk away with an unsatisfactory set of exposures.

Before you mount your camera on your tripod, make

sure all joints are secure and your quick-release plate
is firmly locked onto your camera. If it’s particularly
windy out, consider a lower vantage point as vibration
absorption and stability is greater when your tripod is
not fully extended. Alternatively, you can add some
additional weight to your center column (if possible)
which will help to redistribute the weight of your tripod
for more secure footing.
At times, small vibrations can come from unexpected sources. Usually, our intent is to shield our camera
from environmental vibrations - such as wind, unsecured footing, or the photographer themselves.
However, the source of these vibrations are quite often directly from the camera.

The image stabilization (vibration reduction for Nikon users) feature of certain lenses can actually
cause vibrations if your camera is mounted. This fantastic feature is designed for handheld shots when
you’re walking that shutter speed line between a sharp focus and one that has been softened from
camera shake. However, since your camera will be mounted securely, IS/VR is redundant and should
be turned off as it has been proven to actually produce minor vibrations.
Dangling camera straps are often the culprit
of unknown vibrations that soften the focus, so
they should be removed before you begin your
bracket. I have found much happiness with using
a camera handstrap in lieu of the neckstrap,
finding it more natural to carry my camera than
to have it wrapped around my neck. Lens hoods
are also notorious for causing vibrations during
windy conditions.

Another item attached to your camera that

could possibly vibrate your mount is the remote
cable release. Strong winds can bounce this
around, which can send up vibrations to your
camera. You can shorten the length of the cable
by wrapping it around your tripod a few times,
or simply use a wireless cable release.
A remote cable release (wired or wireless) is a necessity for
accurate bracketing and general camera stability for any
shutter speed where camera shake could potentially become
an issue. The simple act of pressing the shutter button sends
vibrations to your camera, which can soften your focus. The
remote cable release will allow you to press your shutter
via a remote so you’re not actually touching your camera,
essentially eliminating any chance of movement. Another
great benefit of the remote cable release is the ability to lock
your shutter button into place, allowing you to create long exposures without having to physically
hold the shutter button down during bulb mode.

For my workflow, I prefer the Canon remote cable release since it’s simple to operate, and the chance
that it could fail in the field is far less than a battery-operated wireless release, which is dependent
on a functioning infrared or radio frequency connection. Since my subject is landscape photography,
there isn’t much need to trigger my shutter wirelessly as I am always in close vicinity to my camera.
proper In order to ensure that you get a proper exposure and uniform depth
of field with your set of brackets, I have a few focusing tips for you to
focus follow before you press the shutter.
Most (if not all) digital SLRs
have several auto focus
points that you see through
your viewfinder. The camera
will automatically use these
points as a reference to
decide where the main
point of focus should be,
meaning the sharpest point
of your image. While this is a helpful invention,
you’re basically playing a guessing game
with your point of focus, which is something
you should avoid - especially when shooting
shallow depths. The easiest solution here is to
pick one focus point instead
of allowing your camera to
randomly select them for
you (your camera manual will
show you how this is done).
This gives you much more
control over where your point
of focus will be. You can then
easily aim the camera at your
subject, do a prefocus, and reposition the
camera accordingly to get the composition
you want. I use the center focus point only for
my camera as it is not only convenient, but it’s
also the most accurate point to select.
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Once you find a strong composition
(and with the correct focus), switch
to manual focusing just after you
prefocus so that your lens doesn’t
automatically refocus when taking
multiple shots. This is less important
if you’re using a deep depth of field,
but still should be practiced since
even the smallest discrepancy can
throw off your entire focus, leading
to inconsistencies when exposure
blending.

If you follow these important focusing steps, you’ll ensure that your slice of
focus will be pinpoint accurate, and always where you want it to be - and
just as important, that it won’t change when taking multiple exposures.
 At this point, your camera should be set up securely
on your tripod, your scene composed, and focused
properly on your subject. Make sure to attach your
remote camera release, and if it’s wired, tie up any
dangling cord around your tripod to prevent unwanted
vibrations, but leave enough slack so you can trigger
your shutter without pulling on the cord (left). Also,
ensure that your camera is set to RAW for image
quality.

Now you’re ready to go into your camera menu

options and activate your autobracketing features.
Each camera model has a slightly different way of
accessing this feature, so it would be best to refer to
your camera manual before proceeding. I’ll be using

remote camera release my camera, the Canon 6D DSLR, as the example for
this section.
 setting the autobracket

Here you can see the menu for selecting my

autobracketing function. The Canon 6D has
an autobracketing range of up to 3 stops
+/- my base exposure, which is typically
enough of a range for most scenes. To
activate this function, I press the SET button
to bring up the autobracketing submenu
for further customization.

35
I can adjust the range of my autobracketing by turning my dial near the shutter button, which determines
how wide of a tonal range you want to capture: anywhere from +/- 1/3 of a stop between each exposure
to +/- 3 full stops. In the screenshot here, I’ve chosen three brackets taken at 2 stop increments.

I can also choose how many brackets my camera takes in one set, anywhere from 2 images to 7. The
most common range is three brackets (your base exposure, one underexposed for highlight recovery,
and another overexposed for shadow recovery), but there are certainly situations where you would
want to capture more than three brackets.
For example, if your tonal range is five
full stops, then the gap between each
bracket could be too large to recover all
of the missing detail. In order to “bridge”
the distance between each exposure, you
would select 5 or 7 brackets for each set so
that important data isn’t skipped over as
your camera changes shutter speeds.
The availability of these features depend on your
camera model. Older models may be limited to
only a 2-stop range for autobracketing, and three
brackets for each set. If you find this too limiting
for the scene you want to capture, then a manual
bracket is needed, which I go over in a later section.

Now that you have your autobracketing set,

switch into aperture priority mode. You want to
be in this mode as it keeps a consistent aperture
of your choosing and will adjust the shutter speed
automatically to compensate for the different
brackets it renders. You don’t want to change your
aperture between exposures as it will give you an
inconsistent depth of field. Select your aperture and
ISO, and ensure your white balance is manually set
and will not automatically adjust between exposures.
Working in aperture priority mode does not guarantee that the shutter speed your camera chooses
will be the best to serve as your base exposure. Take a test shot and view the histogram: are most
values somewhere in the middle, or is there a significant amount of tones grouped on either end of
your graph? The ideal goal of your base exposure is to be the middle point of your bracket set, the
average between your slowest and fastest exposure needed to capture the entire tonal range. If your
base exposure has a large percentage of underexposed tones, then the reach of your longest bracket
may not be enough to pull all of the underexposed detail out of the shadows.

In the examples below, the best shutter speed to serve as your base exposure would be 1/200s since
that histogram displays most tones away from the edges. If you chose 1/800s as your base, then the
fastest bracket would be useless since there are no tones overexposed at 1/800s.

1/800 seconds 1/200 seconds 1/50 seconds

If you’re satisfied with your base exposure,
make a note of the shutter speed and switch
into manual mode, inputting the settings
you just metered. Although you could stay
in aperture priority mode to execute your
autobracket, I prefer to switch into manual
mode to ensure that my settings will not
automatically change. For example, if I
capture a set of brackets and decide to
adjust my composition, my camera may
grab a different meter read and change
my shutter speed without my knowledge.
While this may not make a huge difference,
I prefer to have full control over my settings
and not let my camera decide a new shutter
speed for me once I’ve already settled on
the best one.
live view
However, if your camera has live view capabilities, you can skip this step entirely and go directly to manual
mode as soon as you set your autobracket options in the menu. Live view has some fantastic benefits for
your photography in general, but offers some specific workflow enhancements for autobracketing.
1. Live view eliminates the need to lock your mirror.

As you may already know, the mirror in your

camera can cause some unwanted vibrations as
it flips up to expose your sensor. To counteract
this vibration during longer exposures, DSLRs
are equipped with a “mirror lockup” feature
which flips your mirror up independently from
the shutter. Separating these two steps during
the exposure process allows for any vibrations
to dissipate before the image is rendered onto
your sensor.

Newer DSLR bodies have taken this a step

further with live view. Since your mirror and
shutter are already open to give you the live
preview on your LCD screen, mirror lock-up
mode is redundant.
 2. Live view has an on-screen histogram which allows you to bypass taking test shots.

With live view, you can overlay a live histogram

onto your LCD screen that will update for every
new meter read. Since you can see the histogram
change as you adjust your shutter speed, you’ll
save much time in the field as you’ll be able to see
how your histogram reacts to exposure changes
instantly without having to take any test shots.
Instead, you can judge your manual settings right
on your LCD screen and choose a shutter speed
that will serve as a solid base for your bracket.

In the examples to the right, notice how the live

histogram shifts to the left when I increase my
shutter speed from 1/6s (top) to 1/30s (bottom).
 executing the autobracket
Whether or not you have live view capabilities, it’s time to capture your brackets. Set your
shooting mode to burst and hold down the remote cable release to begin capturing your
set. Your camera will execute your bracket in sequential images as quickly as possible,
reducing the time between each exposure. This will help to avoid any differences between
each bracket if your frame includes any moving subjects, which makes for an easier blending
experience later. Review your brackets and ensure that the histograms show that any missing
detail has been recovered: your shortest bracket should have no blown highlights and your
longest bracket should have all shadows pulled away from the left wall of your histogram
(examples on next page). In other words, a successful set of images will have “bracketed” all
available tones so you can blend them together for a complete tonal range of your scene.

Make sure to check your histograms before you remove your camera from the tripod so in
the event you need to take more brackets, your composition won’t unintentionally shift.
checking your autobrackets

all shadows recovered all highlights recovered

 autobracketing review
1. After selecting your subject, mount your camera onto your tripod securely. Secure any joints and
locks, and remove any items that could cause vibrations: such as lens hoods or camera straps.
Attach your remote camera release and tie up any loose cable.
2. Compose and set your focus.
3. Activate your autobracketing and set both the number of brackets you wish to capture and the
breadth of your tonal range between your fastest and longest shutter speed.

IF YOU HAVE LIVE VIEW IF YOU DO NOT HAVE LIVE VIEW

Switch into manual mode and set your ISO and
aperture. Activate your live histogram and choose
the best shutter speed to serve as your base
exposure. Once you settle on the best shutter
speed, begin to execute your set of brackets.
Lock your mirror and switch to aperture priority
mode. Set your ISO and aperture and take a test
shot, viewing the histogram afterwards. If your
histogram is balanced well, make note of the
shutter speed and switch into full manual mode.
Input your manual settings and begin to execute
your set of brackets.
manual bracketing
At times, you may find that your autobracketing system is too limiting for the tonal range you wish to
capture. This can be especially true during the golden hours, where the disparity between highlights
and shadows are at their highest. If at the end of your autobracket you still have tones peaking on
either end of your histogram (indicating blown highlights and/or crushed shadows), you can adjust
your settings manually to regain any detail that still falls outside of your brackets.

Make note of the shutter speed your camera metered for your longest exposure (the one exposed
for shadow recovery). Simply input that number and gradually decrease your shutter speed until all
shadows have been recovered. Reverse this process for highlight recovery: input your fastest shutter
speed and gradually increase this speed until all tones have been pushed away from the right side
of your histogram. Remember, if the gap between each bracket is more than a few stops, make sure
to take an additional exposures between in order to bridge them together. This will ensure that you
capture any important details that you may have skipped over.
 notes on highlight recovery
When bracketing to recover highlights, you may bump
up against the fastest shutter speed possible for your
camera. This happens more often when working with
shallow depths of field since more light is allowed to hit
your sensor as your aperture widens. If you find that you
still have highlights that need to be recovered and your
shutter speed is at its fastest, use an ND filter to limit the
amount of light that enters your lens, then autobracket as
normal.

Also note that the sun itself is one subject that you should
not aim to recover fully. Not only will your attempts look
unnatural when blending, but the sun is a direct light
source and is expected to be incredibly bright. You should,
however, recover any cloud interest surrounding the sun.
simple blending
 video: evaluating the brackets

Before you begin to blend, you’ll need to open your exposures in Adobe® Camera
RAW (ACR) and evaluate your brackets. ACR has powerful, non-destructive editing
capabilities that can greatly benefit your own processing workflow, such as white
balance adjustment and instant lens corrections. The purpose of this tutorial however
is to exposure blend, so I’ll only be covering the specific functions that pertain to
adjusting exposure. If you would like to follow along, you can access the images used
in this video by opening the “After Sunset” folder included with your download.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file entitled “01-Evaluating-
Brackets.mp4”.
importing files
The previous video illustrated how to import
your brackets directly from Adobe® Bridge into
ACR. However, if your brackets have already
gone through your RAW workflow, you can
import them directly into Adobe® Photoshop
as one file and have them auto-align onto their
own separate layers. This fantastic feature
saves you the trouble of opening each image
individually and stacking them manually into
one document.
In Photoshop, click File > Script > Load Files
Into Stack to open a dialogue box, where you
can browse for your images. Click browse and
then CMD + click each bracket you want to
import, and make sure to tick the “Attempt
to Automatically Align Source Images” and
“Create Smart Object after Loading Layers”
boxes, and then click OK. Photoshop will run
the script automatically, and once finished,
double-click on the smart object to open up
another file with each image on their own
separate layer.
50
 smart objects
If you’re not familiar with smart objects in Photoshop, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to know how
beneficial this feature can be to your processing workflow. When you convert multiple layers into one
smart object, what you’re essentially doing is creating a separate Photoshop file within itself. In other
words, it abstractly combines your layers into one so you can make universal adjustments (like the warp
tool and cropping) to multiple layers at once without affecting the original brackets. You can warp your
image or crop out the edges without it being a permanent adjustment. If you double-click on your
smart object, you’ll open up the source file with your layers still intact, and each layer can still be altered
independently from one another when working within the smart object itself.

Another way to think of smart objects is the difference between local and global adjustments. If you
want to alter all of your exposures globally, you can create a smart object and adjust as necessary
without altering the source files (your original exposures) and without having to permanently merge
the layers together. If you’d rather make local adjustments, you can open up the smart object and edit
each individual layer. It’s a completely non-destructive way to adjust multiple exposures as if they were
flattened into one layer, which preserves their independence.

51
 the simple blend
To begin the exposure blending workflow, I
want to first introduce a simple blend of two
exposures (one frame exposed for sky detail,
and another for ground detail). It mimics the
effect of a GND filter, and this method should
be sufficient for most exposure blending
needs where the horizon line is relatively flat.
If you would like to follow along, you can find
the images for this blend in the “Sally’s Cove”
folder. These images have already been
processed in RAW, so you should make sure
that you have evaluated your brackets before
you begin a blend of your own.
 video: simple blending

Simple blending uses a gradient mask to gradually blend one

exposure into another, much like a GND filter but with a bit
more customization.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file
entitled “02-Simple-Blending.mp4”.
 video notes: simple blending
As you can see in the video, the gradient mask creates a pleasant and soft transition, but this
adjustment is too global for our particular image. We needed to fine tune this with the brush
tool and adjust the blend for a more natural appearance. By selecting the brush tool and with
a foreground color set to black and hardness at 0, we decrease the opacity down to 10%, which
gave us a light touch without any noticeable transitions. Some customization is often needed when
applying a gradient like this, and is one reason why many photographers prefer this method as
opposed to using a GND filter in the field.

You’ll also notice that the approaching storm clouds in the upper left side of our frame are a bit
too underexposed. By using the brush tool to bring back the foreground layer at a low opacity, we
were able to create a custom layer mask that fits the unique contours of the landscape as opposed
to applying a static adjustment that does not.

54
When we disable the layer mask, you
can see the vast difference this simple
gradient creates. More importantly,
all of the damaged areas have
been recovered. By adding a levels
adjustment layer and right-clicking
on the highlights slider, you can see
visually which areas are damaged by
overexposure (top). When I reactivate
my gradient mask, notice how all of
the damage has now been reversed
entirely, represented by a black canvas
(bottom). This recovery can also be seen
on the histograms: those highlights
which were smashed against the right
side have now been distributed more
evenly throughout the histogram.
 the final result
Make sure to save the changes you made inside the
smart object by clicking File > Save before switching
back over to your parent file. When you compare the
original exposure metered for the entire scene (top)
to the blended result (bottom), you can see what the
histograms on the previous page represent: a more
complete tonal range with much detail recovered
from overexposure. This gives you a fantastic base
for any creative processing as the more data you
recover, the further you can take your processing
workflow without any damage.

The gradient method works well for relatively flat

horizon lines, but what happens when you have
an intricate skyline, such as multiple pine trees
breaching the horizon?
advanced blending
When blending multiple exposures together in
Photoshop using layer masks, you’ll eventually
run into a situation where refining your mask
with freehand brushwork becomes too difficult
and time-consuming. This is especially true for
intricate, jagged horizons that are interrupted
by trees, rocks, and other elements – such as
the example image here. Brushing over the
detailed contours of this tree line would require
hours working on a pixel-by-pixel basis, which is
simply unnecessary if you know how to refine a
selection.

58
 Why refine your selection?
Although the gradient tool and freehand
brushwork can accommodate most
situations, more complicated compositions
require further refinement of the layer mask in
order to have a seamless blend of exposures.
When you use the simple blending method
described earlier, you produce what I call
“partial blends” over certain transitional
areas of your image (for example, where a tree
line meets the sky). In the Sally’s Cove image
we just blended, I highlighted the areas in red where the foreground layer was blended into the background
layer in order to recover the blown highlights. This area shows the transitional area, where the layer mask is
some degree of grey (not 100% black nor 100% white). In other words, the layer is semi-transparent in this area
and shows both exposures together at varying opacity levels. Partial blends can present several side effects
that detract from the success of certain compositions by creating an unnatural appearance.
For images where the sky is interwoven with
foreground detail, partial blends rarely create a background exposure (EV -2)
natural appearance. When I blend a EV -2 sky with
a EV +2 foreground using the simple blending
method, the gradient line (red) needs to be brought
down quite a ways into the tree line in order to
recover all the sky detail. This overlap causes the
trees to gradually get darker as you approach the sky,
and has rendered them unnaturally underexposed.

To rectify this, I can use a low-opacity brush and

paint over my layer mask to bring back the tree
detail of my foreground exposure, like I did with the
simple blending method. However, you’ll notice a
foreground exposure (EV +2)
different result when working with this image.
 halos
Since the trees intersect with the sky line, painting
over them with your brush will overlap onto the halos from EV +2

sky, resulting in the overexposed sky detail of the

foreground layer to intrude onto your composition.
Additionally, these pine trees have areas in
between branches where the sky is visible, so those
overexposed areas are also blended back. This side
effect of exposure blending is what we call “halos”,
or an unnatural glow around certain subjects.

You can still refine your blend with your brush tool
more accurately than this, but you would need to
work with a very small brush on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
Not only will this take an enormous amount of time
to complete, but the mundane workflow will start to
take the fun out of exposure blending.
This is where advanced blending techniques
come in handy because rather than resorting
to either a partial blend or tedious brushwork,
you can render a customized selection at
full opacity, one that has been tailored to the
unique contours of your horizon line.

However, partial blends with a large brush

present other issues besides this gradient-like
effect on tones. One common problem that
occurs is ghosting, which is the partial visibility
of an element that is present in one exposure,
but not the other. Ghosting can be due to
elements that moved between each bracket
you captured (for example, people walking or
grass swaying in the wind) or in the event that
your layers are misaligned.
 ghosting
ghosting from movement
Even the most careful in-the-field execution of your
brackets can still produce inconsistencies between
each exposure. A common cause for ghosting
is elements that move within your frame (such as
the fluctuating tide, swaying tree branches, and
moving clouds) between each bracket that you
capture. Partial blending is something you should
avoid here since the disparity between exposures
will be evident by semi-transparent renderings, as
seen with the moving grass to the left. Since the
wind was quite strong on this day, the tall grass was
moving rapidly and was repositioning during my
autobracketing. By refining the selection for your
layer mask to fit the contours of the landscape, you
can forgo a partial blend and choose exactly what
you want to mask, and at 100% opacity.
 ghosting from misaligned layers

Stitching multiple frames together (like for panoramics) is another example of when images may not be
uniform in alignment, and not due to bracketing or alignment errors in the field. Even the most sophisticated
stitching software with manual links can produce minor discrepancies between each exposure, so blending
stitched exposures together can be troublesome. In these instances, partial blends would also produce
ghosting (even with stationary subjects), which requires more specific blending at 100% opacity.
The only way to rectify these blending issues is
to use a very small brush and mask out the areas
you wish to blend on an almost pixel-by-pixel
basis, refining the contours of your layer mask to
fit the content of your photograph. Admittedly,
I’ve done this in the past (with great success),
but it took several hours of detailed work which
quickly became tiresome. Instead of following
that tedious workflow, you can refine your
selection in a more automated way by working
with luminosity masks.

Before I detail how to use luminosity masks for

exposure blending, you first should know what
they are and how to create them for your image.
luminosity masks
 what are luminosity masks?
Luminosity masks are a powerful way for landscape photographers to meticulously blend exposures together
when working with challenging tonal ranges. By making a custom selection using your alpha channels, you
can refine your mask to fit the specific contours of the landscape you photographed, saving you much time
in processing that would otherwise be spent hand-picking the pixels you want to blend.

With luminosity masks, you’re creating selections based on groups

with similar tones (or values). You begin by dividing your tones
into one of two groups - highlights or shadows - and then refine
those groups further for more specific selections (for example,
selecting only the brightest highlights from the “highlights”
group). This works well for exposure blending since you typically
have contrasting tones along where you want to blend, such as
blown highlights against a darkened tree line. This allows you to
easily create a contoured selection for your mask (right) that would
have taken hours to draw by hand with your brush tool, blending
in the foreground of one layer with the skyline of another.
While luminosity masks have many benefits for
your darkroom workflow, they are particularly
helpful for exposure blending. Since the
selection is refined to fit the contours of your
horizon line, there will be no issues with halos
created by a soft brush. This widens your
creative horizons immensely since you can
blend any set of brackets together with ease
no matter how intricate your horizon line is.

68
Another benefit is that you can use luminosity
masks to avoid partial blending of exposures,
which will help to eliminate any ghosting from
moving subjects between brackets. You’re
essentially creating a custom stencil that
hugs the edges of your horizon, which you
can then use to mask in a different exposure
at 100% opacity. The alternative would be to
either paint your mask by hand or do a partial
blend, which can produce ghosting and look
unnatural.

For this image, I used a refined luminosity

mask to trace along the edges of the tree line
as well as any areas in between branches where the sky was visible. Not only has all of the lost
data been recovered, but I was able to combine both exposures without sacrificing image quality.
 video: defining highlights & shadows

To be able to understand the rest of this course, you need to know how luminosity masks are created
with your alpha channels. There are actions you can purchase which will create the luminosity
masks for you (which I will reference later), but you’ll find a greater understanding of this versatile
tool if you know how to create the masks yourself and how to refine them to your liking.

To continue, you’ll require the image files contained in the “Blue Hill” folder.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file entitled “03-Defining-Highlights-
Shadows.mp4”.
 video notes: alpha channels explained
Alpha channels are a way to save your selections so you can load them at any time via the channels
palette. By loading one of these selections onto a layer mask, you are creating what we call “luminosity
masks”, which are custom masks based on the luminance level of each pixel. Don’t worry, alpha channels
won’t affect how your image appears since they’re hidden underneath your red, green, and blue channels.

Luminosity selections are feathered and select the brighter values at a higher opacity level. This is why we
created both a “highlights” and “shadows” alpha channel so that all pixels can be selected. Pixels closer
to pure white (255) will have a stronger selection, and pixels closer to pure black (0) will be selected less.
In other words, pure white will be 100% selected, pure black will not be selected at all, and the opacity of
each selection for the varying shades of grey in between these two points will depend on where they fall
on the value scale. For color processing, this feathering and partial selection works wonderfully. However,
for exposure blending, the luminosity mask will need to be refined in order to adjust any selections which
are not at either 0% or 100% opacity since that would give us a partial blend of exposures, which is not
always the best approach. This refining process is quite simple and will be explained later.
video notes: refining the alpha channel
Before I continue on with the luminosity mask creation, I want to take a moment to discuss a few
points which I think are important to clarify.

You will not always have to alter the tonal range of your alpha channel in order to create the selection
you desire. This particular exposure was the shortest bracket, so the sky detail was not near pure
white (255) on the value scale. By adding a curves adjustment, we told Photoshop that the brightest
tone should not be pure white (255), but rather a particular shade of grey (169).

In theory, I could have used the longer bracket to create my luminosity masks with, which has an
overexposed sky and would make for an easy detection against the tree line. However, there is a
reason why I’m building my masks on the underexposed bracket, which I will explain in a later section.

72
When increasing the contrast of your alpha channel, make sure
not to compress the tonal range to the point where the edges of
your future selection are redefined. If you increase the contrast
too much, you can cause the black pixels to bleed onto white,
or vice versa. We’ll be refining the selection later so a perfect
contrast of black/white isn’t necessary – this step is to simply
create a cleaner canvas for easier edge detection.

It’s quite simple to avoid over-compressing your tonal range.

When redefining your black or white points in curves, focus
on eliminating any gaps between where your tones begin and
the edge of your histogram, but do not clip any tones in the
process. In other words, do not drag your black/white points
past the point where tones begin to appear on the histogram. gaps eliminated

This histogram shows the appropriate amount of compression for refining an alpha channel. I dragged my
highlight and shadow points inward just enough to remove those gaps of empty values, but did not pull
them past where tones begin to appear on the histogram.
 refining highlights and shadows
What we’ve essentially created at this point is a ying and yang of tones, where any pixels that were
not selected in one channel are selected in the other. Additionally, if any pixel was not selected at
100% opacity in one channel, the remaining opacity is made up for in the other channel.

By dividing our tones into highlights and shadows, we can easily choose one of these alpha
channels to be our guide for blending exposures. For example, if we have an exposure that has an
underexposed foreground, we can select the shadows alpha channel, load the custom selection,
and use that as our stencil to blend in a longer exposure for the foreground. The same rule applies
for an exposure that has blown sky detail: select the highlights alpha channel, load the selection
which follows the contours of the sky, and blend in a shorter exposure to recover lost details.

While we can usually go straight to blending exposures with our Highlights and Shadows, there
are situations where these alpha channels have too broad of a selection for the areas that require
blending. In other words, we need to refine each of these alpha channels so that a more narrow
group of tones are selected.
 video: refining highlights & shadows

By refining these two groups of tones, we can tell Photoshop to take the selection pool and
narrow it down to only include the darker shadows or brighter highlights of their respective
channels. You can compare this process to wood carving or clay sculpting – we have the general
outline of our figure, but need to whittle away some of the rougher selections in order to refine
and mold it into what we want.

It’s been a long explanation so far, and refining alpha channels is much easier to grasp by
watching a video. We’re going to pick right up where we left off in the previous video, where the
Highlights and Shadows alpha channels have just been created.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file entitled “04-Refining-Highlights-
Shadows.mp4”.
 video notes: the marching ants
Although I stopped at four intersections for each group of alpha channels, you can
continue to refine the selection until only the brightest highlights or darkest shadows
are selected. I should also note that you’ll only see the “marching ants” around pixels
that are above 50% grey. This, however, does not mean that they are the only pixels
selected, but rather the only pixels selected at an opacity level stronger than 50%. With
this in mind, you could effectively have no marching ants on your alpha channel but still
have a selection that could be used to create a luminosity mask.

At this point all of the selections we need to blend exposures have been created, and
we can now apply these selections to a layer mask for an instant blend of exposures.
The process to create these alpha channels are quite time consuming, but thankfully
you can run a Photoshop action which will instantly create your full set of alpha channels
with a simple click of a button. Before I direct you to where you can obtain these actions,
I would like to keep the momentum going and finish blending this image.
 video: creating luminosity masks

Now that all of the selections have been created, it’s time to move out of the channels
palette and back into layers. This video will demonstrate how to choose the best alpha
channel for your selection and apply it as a luminosity mask to blend exposures.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file entitled “05-Creating-
Luminosity-Masks.mp4”.
I try not to include too much text in my
videos so that you can focus on what is
happening, but certain sections require
further explanation. In order to remove
any partial blending between exposures,
and thus bring out the vibrancy and clarity
of each layer, the mask needs to be pure
black and pure white, with minimal grey
tones. Every exposure blend will not
require your mask to be pure black and
white, so that decision is up to you and
what you think looks best. I specifically
chose this image to serve as the example
since partial blending looks particularly
awful (bottom) when compared to the final image after refining the
luminosity mask (top). The tones are not as muddy, and more detail was
blended in from the sky.jpg layer.
 video notes: the overlay brush

The overlay brush (your brush tool set to overlay mode) is the best way to achieve a
pure black and white mask as you can brush over the dividing line between exposures
without paying much regard to the luminosity mask we just created. What this will do
is take any pixel that is a higher value than middle grey and lighten (screen) it towards
pure white, and inversely, it will reassign any pixel lower than middle grey and darken
(multiply) it towards to pure black. Now you can see why it was important to create
contrast in our alpha channel – not just to get a defined edge for detection, but to
also push those grey pixels that were “on the fence” one way or the other, which will
make the overlay brush all the more effective.

79
I like to make several passes over the area, switching back and
forth from black to white as I brush to keep things on an even
keel. Keep in mind though that the more passes you make of the
same value (black or white), the more chance it will bleed onto
the other. Even pixels that are near 100% white will be affected
by a black overlay brush if those pixels are on the border of your
selection and vice versa – and this change becomes more dramatic
the stronger your opacity is. This can alter the size and contours
of your newly-customized mask, so make sure to keep an eye on
your brush work and take note of any changes in pixel size. This
is why I like to alternate back and forth from black to white as it
helps to make sure one tone doesn’t dominate over the other.

When you compare the raw luminosity mask straight from our
alpha channel (top) to the refined mask (bottom), you can see
what we’ve been working towards: a mask completely customized
to the unique horizon line of the image, and something that would
take many hours to create with a freehand brush.
 final notes on luminosity masks

Highlights and shadows are not the only groups of tones you can select with your alpha
channels - you can also choose your midtones, allowing you to make local adjustments to
values that surround middle grey on your histogram. For the purpose of exposure blending,
midtones are not needed since you’ll usually be selecting either highlights and shadows.
However, midtone luminosity masks can give you an enormous advantage in the digital
darkroom when you use them for other processing techniques.

Exposure blending represents only a small portion of what is possible with luminosity masks.
In fact, blending wasn’t their original purpose. Tony Kuyper first wrote about luminosity masks
in 2006 as a way to make tone-based, local adjustments to one exposure in Photoshop.
Luminosity masks are simply a unique and versatile approach to creating a selection based
on the tones of your image, and that selection can be used for a multitude of darkroom
processes (such as curves, levels, or selective colors) for accurate, localized adjustments.
action panel for luminosity masks

Creating alpha channels based on highlight, midtone, and shadow selections is only
the very basic foundation to luminosity masks, barely scratching the surface to what
is possible with tone-based adjustments. Depending on your creative vision and
the unique content of your photograph, you can use luminosity masks to perform a
myriad of processing and editing techniques that can completely transform how you
create in the darkroom.

As you’ve just learned, creating even the simplest highlight and shadow alpha
channels can be quite time consuming. To the delight of many photographers, Tony
Kuyper has created a wonderful action panel for Photoshop users that completely
automates the process of creating those alpha channels.

82
What I like most about Tony’s action panel is that it circumvents the superfluous process of creating
alpha channels, allowing you to skip this tiresome step without any influence on your creative
processing. Many actions and presets aim to perform blanket adjustments for you (such as shifts
in color and tones) which can dilute the creativity required to process an image based on your
unique vision. You’re skipping a very important step in your creative development: conveying your
connection to the scene you photographed through processing, which is a learning experience that
can not be replicated through preconstructed workflows.

With Tony’s action panel, you can still learn, evolve, and develop your creative workflows since the
adjustments you perform with luminosity masks (whether it’s exposure blending or another process)
are still entirely led by your creative vision. I highly recommend purchasing this action panel if you
wish to pursue luminosity masks as it will bypass the redundancy of creating them, allowing you to
focus more on your processing. Click the button below to read more about the TKActions Panel and
how it can benefit your work in the digital darkroom.

click to read more about Tony Kuyper’s action panel

finishing touches
 sensor bloom

Sensor bloom occurs when light bleeds, or

overlaps, onto elements in front of it, beyond
where you would normally see the light. This is
especially visible in high-contrast scenes where
a backlit subject is against an overexposed
background, such as darkened pine trees against
a sunset. What sensor bloom will do is reduce
the apparent physical space that your subject
occupies by having the background light wrap
around and spill onto it, thus making it appear
that the edges of your front lit subject is actually
the sky itself. Depending on how overexposed the
background is, sensor bloom can literally make a
subject disappear.
For example, take the “foreground.
jpg” exposure of our Blue Hill
image. When you zoom in towards
the sky, you can see how the light
bleeds over onto the pine trees,
rendering some thinner branches
indistinguishable.

When you compare this to the

same area of trees from “sky.jpg”,
it becomes clear how sensor bloom
can reduce the physical space which
the trees occupy. Not only are the
branches smaller in size, but some
have disappeared completely.
Sensor bloom is particularly problematic for
exposure blending since even a perfectly-
executed bracket with no inconsistencies with
frame alignment can produce ghosting. Each
bracket has different content: sensor bloom
causes the longer exposure to appear smaller
in physical space as the light wraps around
and overlaps the edges of certain subjects.
When you blend these brackets together with
a mask that is not 100% black and white, you’ll
get ghosting since the content in question is
not the same size between layers.

87
 The other option is to refine the luminosity mask and push
any grey pixels to pure black or pure white, which is what
we just did in the previous video. However, this presents
its own unique issues since your refined luminosity mask
is based on the content of one exposure.

sensor bloom Let’s take the Blue Hill example image we’ve been working
with to illustrate this point. On the “sky.jpg” layer, the
trees have been rendered larger as sensor bloom is not
an issue here. Since we based the luminosity mask off
of the alpha channel for this exposure, the trees we are
blending in from “foreground.jpg” are not big enough to
fill the entire space, thus creating an overexposed outline
around the tree line. If you zoom in closely on certain
areas of the image we just created in the last video, you
can see areas of sensor bloom along the tree line.
 video: sensor bloom

You can also think of sensor bloom like fitting two pieces of a
puzzle together. We’ve already created the jigsaw by outlining
the tree line with a luminosity mask, but the “foreground.jpg”
piece was cut too small and fits loosely into the “sky.jpg” piece.
We need to find a way to fill in the gaps between these two
pieces so that they fit seamlessly.

Correcting sensor bloom can be quite simple by using the

clone tool. By duplicating our “foreground.jpg” layer, we can
clone around the tree line to fill in those gaps created by sensor
bloom.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the
file entitled “06-Sensor-Bloom.mp4”.
 video: finishing touches

The blending process is now complete, but there are some

additional steps you can take to make your blend appear more
fluid and gradual, if needed.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the file
entitled “07-Finishing-Touches.mp4”.
When you compare the final blend with our two original brackets, you can see the vast improvement this
workflow provides. Exposure blending allows us to combine the best elements of both shutter speeds for
an accurate, complete representation of the view you saw in the field.
Another benefit to using luminosity masks for
exposure blending is that it gives you a solid
foundation to apply your color processing
onto, which dictates not only the quality of
your final image, but also the number of
avenues you can pursue without causing
damage. If you read my article on editing vs.
processing, you know that I separate editing
from processing in the digital darkroom, and
the focus of my editing is to cultivate the
best possible canvas to process with. Thanks
to the meticulous blending of exposures
from this workflow, I was able to apply many
different color and tonal techniques without
any detrimental effects.
 video: the final blend

Now that all of the blending steps have been shown, let’s use
them together in one seamless workflow. In this last video,
we’ll take a complicated blend of three different exposures
with intricate blending areas and apply the methods we’ve
learned to recover the full tonal range. For this video, you’ll
need the three image files contained in the “After Sunset”
folder.

To watch this video clip, open your Video folder and play the
file entitled “08-Final-Blend.mp4”.
By recovering the full tonal range of this scene with exposure blending, I was able to apply a myriad of
simple and advanced color processing techniques. This allowed me to express my creativity in a visual form
that would otherwise not be possible with blown highlights and crushed shadows.
My editing techniques are corrective in nature,
such as blending exposures, adjusting the crop
and composition, and removing any impurities that
detract from my image. In short, I am preparing my
canvas by creating the best possible environment.
This will allow me much freedom for the creative
stage, specifically color and tone processing.

The creative stage is entirely dependent on my

editing stage. I can not enhance details and data
that aren’t already present, so the quality of my
creative processes are dictated by the editing
techniques I perform first.

To learn more about my color processing techniques,

click here for The Art of Color Processing eBook.
 should i always use luminosity masks?
While the refined mask works much better
for the unique challenges that the “After
Sunset” and “Blue Hill” horizon lines present,
that is not to say that freehand brushwork is
an inferior method to use – it’s just not suited
well for these particular images. For example,
if this was a bracketed scene of a seascape
with a flat horizon line (like the first example of
Sally’s Cove), partial blends with a low-opacity
brush would be my method of choice as it
would create a gradient-like blending of tones
as opposed to the harsh, abrupt transition that
comes with a refined luminosity mask. In short,
the method you use will depend entirely on
the contents of your photograph – one is not
universally more effective than the other.
 final thoughts
As you can tell, this technique has a wide
variety of uses – and not just for landscapes or
golden hour scenes. What if you’re shooting a
portrait in RAW and have some unsightly blown
highlights in the background? When you drop
your exposure to correct this, your subject
is cast into shadow, so you’ll need to blend
two different exposures in order to keep your
subject properly exposed and also eliminate
those distracting highlights.
If you’re working with a single RAW file, you
can save different exposure settings and blend
them together using the above workflow. For
this instance, you would open your image in
Photoshop after RAW editing – exposed for the
subject but with your blown highlights and/or
crushed shadows. Afterward, you can re-open
that same RAW file, adjust the exposure to
recover the lost data, and open the new image
in Photoshop to blend with the original.
98
I use this often when I’m presented with minor
exposure differences, ones that did not call for
the need to bracket my scene. In the example
blown highlights blended in
photo to the right, my entire frame was exposed
correctly except for the slightly overexposed
green tree buds on the right side of my frame.
Instead of autobracketing for this, I knew I could
just blend two different exposures of the same
RAW file together by dropping my exposure
down and combining it with the original image.
For a recovery as small as this, there isn’t much
need to go through the entire bracketing
process as the loss of data from blending one
RAW file is not noticeable in this example.
The exposure blending workflow is also used
for several other editing processes besides
expanding the tonal range - focus blending
being a notable example (right). The process
of blending layers has limitless applications
and can benefit any photography subject.

Remember, if autobracketing isn’t a viable

option, you can get a better recovery of detail
in RAW if you “shoot to the right”, referring
to a slightly overexposed image according to
your histogram as opposed to underexposing
it. You’ll find less noise and an overall higher-
quality result in reducing blown highlights
than compared to increasing the exposure of
crushed shadows.
about christopher
Through my work, I like to show a vantage
point that is rarely seen in reality; a show
of beauty, emotion, and serenity. There are
countless mesmerizing scenes among us that
are often hidden from society. My goal is to
expose them to the world so that I may share
the wonders I have seen. My work changes
like the seasons of New England, which
always presents me with surreal opportunities
to create something unique.

I encourage you to visit my website for further

learning as I have written several articles on
the basics of photography and beyond, as
well as to see my latest work.
 ebook discount

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