Melded Exposures

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About Melded Exposures

This group is for pictures created from two or more images that are melded (or blended) together to create the final image. Typically a sky exposure a few stops less than a foreground exposure is used to replace a blown-out sky. This is similar to using ND grads, but is more useful on pictures where the highlights are not linear (e.g. a seaside horizon)

Please do not post HDR processed images - you must create the image using layers and masks (or equivalent)

OK - so just how do I do it?

1 Take your first image by exposing for the foreground - highlights like the sky will be blown out, which is OK.

2 Take your second image and exposure for teh sky - the foreground will be dark.

3 Open the images in Photoshop and copy the lighter (foreground image) over the darker (sky) image

4 In the top (lighter image, use the magic selection tool on 50px (contiguous unticked) to select the white sky - make sure all of the white sky is selected.

5 Invert the selection - now all the non-white areas are selected.

6 With the top (lighter) layer still the selected one, click the mask for the layer which adds a mask of the foreground, allowing the darker sky to show through

7 Select the new mask by clicking it, then, from the menu choose teh Selection/Refine Edge dialog, then play with the adjustments -ve expansion is what you will need (bottom slider), and some between 1px and 250 px feathering isnext slider up)