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Combining layers — same pic, different exposures
I’m taking pictures of a church interior. I thought I would lock down the camera and make one exposure for the rather dark interior and another exposure for the stained glass window. (The window will take up most of the frame.) Now I have the two images as registered (I hope) layers in one PS file. Easier than lighting the interior (I hope). But how to set layer styles or blending options or mattes or whatever to do this? I’ll have a dozen windows to do like this.
Thank you very much.
wm
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6 Replies
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Hey Walter!
It sounds like you are trying to make an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image, which is super easy in photoshop, its just a matter of learning the buttons, and tweaking the settings.
the sequence is File>Automate>Merge to HDR Pro… Then you select your two images and hit “OK” and a new window will open where you can tweak the settings to your hearts content!
Hope this helped!
-Theo -
Sorry, I should have said I’m using CS2.
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You need to look up HDR,
We cover it in the new Creative COW master disc on Photoshop.
Its also in most of my books
Richard M. Harrington, PMP
Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques
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Tiem to upgrade or buy Photomatix or Nike HDR Efex
Richard M. Harrington, PMP
Author: From Still to Motion, Video Made on a Mac, Photoshop for Video, Understanding Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Studio On the Spot and Motion Graphics with Adobe Creative Suite 5 Studio Techniques
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Wowwww. Where have I been? Thank you!
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[Walter Miale] ” Sorry, I should have said I’m using CS2.”
There are still options but they won’t give you the unreal HDR look easily. You can, for example, put the exposure for the dark church above the other image, set it to the Linear Dodge mode and then mask out the overblown window in that image.
It can be hard to manage the transitions between dark and light areas in the two exposures this way, but you can get creative with it. The masking, in this case, is very much like the classic photographic techniques of Dodging and Burning.
The Dodge and Burn tools in PS get their names and function from this technique, but they are usually working with less information/latitude than 2 exposures and can cause hairy pixel colors when attempting to push the effect to extremes. You’re much better off using the Linear Dodge blend mode and layer masks since you can then use the latitude of 2 exposures.
Darby Edelen
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