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Masking off subject from overexposed background for luminance correction
I am trying to make a mask so that I can darken an overexposed background but keep the perfectly exposed interviewee in the foreground untouched.
It looks amateurish at the moment and I won’t use it uncorrected.And I will need to master this masking technique for future projects no doubt.
It seems like a simple task and one that ought to be well documented but the video and html guides I have seen on the internet do not cover this problem. They only seem to cover masking for special effects. Honestly I can’t bear to dive down any more dead ends.
Vegas Pro 20.
Razer Blade Stealth 13″ early 2020
Nvidia GeForce GTX 160 Ti
Windows 11
16gb ramThe edited sequence will be about 3 minutes long.
I have done a lot of editing on documentaries but I have NEVER used masks before, it just isn’t relevant to my work.
I have a good understanding of masking from Photoshop, where I would use a channel mask for this task and aim to get a mask where the head and shoulders of the interviewee were black and the the backgrond was white. I would then apply that as a layer mask and make luminance corrections on the layer that would only affect the background.
But I don’t know what to do in Vegas. I see the mask generator plugin and it looks like the right way to get but I don’t know what I am looking to create in that plug in or how to use that plugin to darken the background and leave the subject untouched.
If anybody knows any tutorials on what I am trying to do please give me the link. Or if you can guide me through the process then I would be very grateful.
In mask generator I did manage to create a black and white image on the screen that looks like a mask, with clear separation between the subject and the background. But I really don’t know what I am doing.
Let me pre-empt you if before you advise me not to use masking but instead just to lower the exposure on the highlights. That doesn’t give me what I need, I am going the masking route.
There is uncorrected snapshot of the sequence
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7 Replies
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Hi Neil
I have an old tutorial on my website that shows different ways to adjust extreme brightness.
There is a written tutorial and also a video you can watch. It should be self explanatory.
https://www.moviestudiozen.com/free-tutorials/vegas-pro/adjust-exposure-layer-masks-vegas-proRegards
Derek
moviestudiozen.com
How to Adjust Extreme Exposure using Layers Masks with Vegas Pro
In this Vegas Pro tutorial, I show how to add Layer Masks and Colour Correction FX to adjust extremes in Exposure Levels.
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Thanks. The video’s a good intro to layer masks for me but you create selections either using anchor points in edit pan/crop or using the gradient tool to select a horizontal section.
I need to create a selection based on luminance values or by manipulating luminance of a channel or with a combination (maybe even drawing/paiting too).I think a mask like the one in the picture would separate the FG and BG well, as you see in the attached image. But I made that mask in PS and not Vegas. I still can’t make one in Vegas and I wouldn’t know how to apply it.
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I have figured a lot out but I am not there yet …. maybe someone can steer me over the finishing line…………
I gave up using the Mask Generator once I realized it was just a way to convert your clip into monochrome and that could be done using desaturation in HSL and then levels. I believe it is setting the blending mode of the top monochrome layer to “multiply (mask)” that makes it into a mask for the layer below and not that it was created in Mask Generator. Not sure though coz it still doesn’t work.
CURRENT SITUATION
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I have 3 identical layers on top of each other.
I made the top layer into a mask by desaturating it then using levels. It is monchrome now with the background black and the person white.
I set the layer blending mode of this top layer to “multiply mask”I left the blending mode for the 2 layers below at the default setting.
I set the 2nd layer down as “compositing child”.
The bottom of the 3 layers is where I will apply luminance adjustents to reduce the exposure of the background. The person should remain unaffected by the changes on the bottom layer.
But it is not working. Instead of seeing the background on the bottom layer coming through I just see black, the black where the background has been blocked out from the second layer I assume.
Can anyone advise me how to get it working? Is it a problem maybe with the options in the preview window?
Thanks compassionate ones
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Thanks to Derek Moran for giving me a lot of the solution.
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SOLUTION
The solution to the problem of the part of the image(s) being black at those places where I wanted the background to be showing through was to add another plugin to the top layer.
This was the MEDIA GENERATOR plugin and setting it to the LUMINOSITY preset.Now any adjustment I apply to the bottom of the three layers only affects the background and the subjects head and shoulders remain unaffected.
I never found this method outlined in full anywhere, I had to put it together from bits and pieces. Do I need to make a guide? Or consult with someone who makes them?
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Hello Neil!
If you make a guide, please send it to us at press@creativecow.net. We will take a look and possibly publish it here at Creative COW.
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Hi Neil
I’m very happy to hear you worked out a solution 😀
At the moment I am very busy working on creating my own new tutorials for VEGAS Pro, after a very long absence due to poor health. It is rare for me to reply on the Creative Cow VEGAS Pro forum, because I have my own VEGAS forum at MovieStudioZen.com that keeps me busy. It was shear luck that I noticed your original message the other day and sent that link to my old tutorial.When I have some free time (soon), I will definitely try to replicate your workflow, so that I can understand precisely what you have discovered. I would also be interested in turning this into a new tutorial, because the gold you have discovered needs to be shared. I’ve bookmarked this thread, so if I need some help, I’ll contact you. I like to post screen shots of all steps, when write a tutorial guide, so that no steps are skipped!
Regards, Derek.
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