Course Overview

About This Tutorial

Despite recent advances in digital camera technology it is still commonplace to encounter scenes which present more dynamic range than the camera can capture. And while graduated ND filters can help balance exposure in simple scenes they can often be problematic in complex scenes or even ineffective in scenes with extreme dynamic range. In these situations it becomes necessary to rely on digital techniques to combine multiple exposures for maximum control over dynamic range. In this tutorial you will learn techniques for effortless exposure blending in Photoshop to create seamless blends for virtually any scene.

What You’ll Learn

This course is broken into 6 chapters for easy digestion, and includes full resolution photos for you to edit along with the video:

• Introduction, 5 min: What is exposure blending and when should you use it? What are the pros and cons of exposure blending vs using graduated ND filters.
• Chapter 1 – Basic Exposure Blending, 6:30 min: Learn to use layers and masks for simple exposure blending. Learn an easy, straightforward blending technique that works for 90% of images.
• Chapter 2 – Blending in Specific Elements and Dealing with Movement, 16 min: Learn to blend in a single bright element, like a sunburst as well as match color and tone seamlessly. Learn a simple approach to dealing with objects that move between exposures.
• Chapter 3 – Complex Blending Using Alpha Channels, 14 min: Learn to use Alpha Channels (also known as Luminosity Masks) to easily create intricate, detailed masks for complex blends. Seamlessly blend darker skies around complex objects like tree branches.
• Chapter 4 – Complex Blending Using Apply Image, 9 min: Achieve the exact same results as in Chapter 3 but via a different -often simpler- technique called Apply Image.
• Chapter 5 – Blending in Shadow Detail, 7 min: Apply the techniques learned so far to an opposite case where we blend in shadow detail instead of highlight detail.
• Chapter 6 – Blending 3 or More Photos, 10 min: Use the techniques learned so far to combine three photos in a situation with extreme dynamic range.

Copyright Info

All content provided in this tutorial is copyright me, Joshua Cripps. Please use the photos only for your own education. That is, don’t upload the photos to Facebook, flickr, Instagram, 500px, or any other similar service, because that would make me sad.

Thanks again and enjoy the tutorial!

~Josh