Luminosity Masking Grading Panel

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Luminosity Grading !

For Photoshop CS6 & CC!

Version 1.1 

Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Introduction! Creating intricate selections in Photoshop can be a time consuming process which can require the use of a variety of selection tools and feathering options to give you a smooth transition between the tones.!

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The Luminosity Grading is a Photoshop CS6 and CC custom panel which automatically creates intricate selections for you ranging from the deepest shadows through to the brightest highlights and then places them on it’s own separate layer complete with a layer mask.!

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Installation! The Luminosity Panel has been packaged inside it’s own wrapper with a file extension of .Zxp and can easily be installed by using the Adobe extension Manager which is usually installed along with Photoshop.!

Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Note: - Each version of Photoshop uses it’s own version of Adobe Extension Manager so you need to ensure that you are using the correct Extension Manager for your version of Photoshop especially if you have multiple versions of Photoshop installed.!

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If for some reason you do not have Adobe Extension Manager installed on your computer, you can download it from the Adobe website.!

! http://www.adobe.com/exchange/em_download/! !

Close Photoshop and Double click the Zxp file and the Adobe Extension Manager will launch. Ignore any warning regarding not verified, ! !

! Accessing The Panel In Photoshop! All Photoshop Custom Panels are placed inside the Extension Section.!

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Once the panel has been installed through the Adobe Extension Manager, launch Photoshop and go to the Window Menu and choose ! Extensions > Luminosity Grading!

! The Luminosity Panel will now launch and will be visible. Look for the ! ! Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

Icon.!

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Available Options!

! The panel comes with a variety of features which include:!

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Normal Midtone selections!

Wide Midtone selections!

Extreme Midtone selections!

All Midtone selections loaded onto separate layers!

Shadow selections!

Dark Shadow selections!

Extreme Dark Shadow selections!

All Shadow selections loaded into separate layers!

Highlight selections!

Bright Highlight selections!

Brightest Highlights selections!

All Highlight selections loaded into separate layers!

Clone Stamp quick button!

Crop quick button!

Brush quick button!

Swap Foreground/Background quick button!

Set Foreground/Background colours to defaults quick button!

Black and White Conversion (Adjustment Layer Layer)!

Black and White Conversion (LAB)!

Add Dodge and Burn Layer (soft light blending mode)!

Midtone Contrast (30% default)!

! ! Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Zones! The selections which the panel creates are based around target zones. These Zones are taken from the traditional Zone System by Ansel Adams. !

Each square of the above step wedge represents a zone raging from Zone 0 (Pure Black) all the way through to Zone X (Pure White) and you can quickly determine which of these zones will be targeted by each of the individual button in the Luminosity Grading Panel.!

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The Zone System is beyond the scope of this document and if you would like more information on understanding the Zone System, I would suggest typing in The Zone System into your favourite search engine.!

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Using The Luminosity Panel


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The Midtone, Shadow and Highlights are grouped into their own individual tabs along the top of the panel.!

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Press the required Tab to access the available options for automatically creating the selections based on the tones within the image. !

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To help identify which approximate tones will be selected, you will see the corresponding Zone Number{s) adjacent to each button.!

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Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Example: - ! Pressing the Dark Shadows button located under the Shadows Tab will allow you to approximately target Zones 0 to III within the image by the use of the Curves Tool!

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Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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After the selection has been created, it will be placed into a layer mask along with a curves control.!

The layer Mask shows the area and tones which will be affected by the curves adjustment. !

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Areas in White will take most the effect and areas which are Black will take no effect. All the grey areas (tones) which fall between White and black will be effected but on a gradual basis giving a smooth transition from one tone to the other.!

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Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Before applying a curves adjustment, if you want to see the areas in the image which represent the layer mask view, all you need to do is make sure the Layer Mask is selected and then press and hold the ALT key (Option key on Mac) and click the layer mask.!

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To return to normal view, press and hold the ALT key (Option key on Mac) and click the layer mask again.

! ! Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Quick Tools!

Located just beneath the tab controls are the five quick tools which are:!

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Clone Stamp quick button!

Crop quick button!

Brush quick button!

Swap Foreground/Background quick button!

Set Foreground/Background colours to defaults quick button!

! Black and White Conversion Buttons! Built into the Luminosity Grading panel are two options for converting your colour image into black and white. The two black and white conversion methods are!

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A. Black and white Adjustment Layer! B. Black and White LAB!

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The Black and White adjustment layer will place the Photoshop black and white adjustment layer directly above the currently selected layer and will allow you to control the individual colour tones within the image via the slider controls.!

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The Black and White LAB conversion will perform the standard Photoshop LAB conversion by converting the image to Greyscale, discarding the A-B channels and then converting the image back to RGB mode ready for further editing.!

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Note: - If you have multiple layers, performing the LAB conversion will Flatten the image to preserve the appearance. Always perform the LAB conversion first.!

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The Black and White adjustment layer conversion is non - destructive but the Black and White LAB conversion is destructive.!

Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Dodge and Burn & Midtone Contrast! The remaining two option are!

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A. Add Dodge and Burn Layer (SL)! B. Midtone Contrast!

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Dodge and Burn! The Add Dodge and Burn Layer will create a new layer filled with 50% grey and then change its blending mode to Soft Light.!

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Use this layer to perform dodging and burning with a brush. Painting with Black with perform the burning (darken) and painting with white will perform the dodging (lighten) !

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Tip: - Setting the flow rate of the brush to around 3% will give you much greater control when dodging and burning.!

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Midtone Contrast! The Midtone Contrast option will analyse the image and then mathematically perform a slight contrast boost target only at the midtones. It will then create a layer mask and set the strength of the effect to 30%.!

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You can paint black onto the layer mask to isolate any areas within the image that you do not want to be affected by the contrast boost. Increasing or decreasing the opacity will also give you some control on the strength of the effect.!

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The Midtone Contrast is usually performed at the last step of the editing process just before any final sharpening is added to the image. 

Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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Resources!

! Luminosity Grading Panel Available From! http://www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk/product-category/luminosity-panel/!

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Created by:! Ian Barber for Digital Black and White!

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Video Demonstration: ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo0Bd8CpUvE&feature=youtube_gdata!

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Ian Barbers Personal Website:! http://www.ianbarberphotography.co.uk!

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Digital Black and White Website:! http://www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

Ian Barber - www.digitalblackandwhite.co.uk

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