Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers - Martin Evening [174]
4.
This duplicated the original layer and allowed me to edit the new, copied Smart Object layer. The easiest way to do this was to double-click the Smart Object layer thumbnail. This opened the Camera Raw dialog again, where I was able to use the Basic panel controls to apply a lighter adjustment to bring out more detail in the room interior. When I was finished I clicked ‘Done’ to OK the adjustment, which updated the Smart Object copy layer in the master image document.
5.
I then added a layer mask to the Smart Object copy layer and edited the mask to hide the windows and brush in more highlight detail in some of the brighter areas of the room interior. This screen shot shows a full image view of the layer mask that was applied to the Smart Object copy layer.
6.
This final image shows the lighter processed Smart Object layer overlaying the darker processed Smart Object layer, using a blend opacity of 90%. The carefully drawn mask around the window frames allowed the darker processed version to show through the windows. With this approach you can endlessly fine-tune the Camera Raw processing on each layer until you are happy with the balance achieved for the Camera Raw settings on both layers.
Smart Object layer blending
This technique can be adapted in various ways. You can use the layer blending options to change the layer blend mode, but you can also double-click the Smart Object layer to open the Layer Style dialog where you can adjust the ‘Blend if: This Layer’ options to adjust the transition between the two Smart Object layers (see page 385 for an example of where I adjusted the Layer Style ‘Blend If’ sliders).
Place-A-Matic script
The steps I just outlined can be carried out more easily by running Dr. Brown's Place-A-Matic script for Bridge. You can download this script for free via the Russell Brown Show website. Go to: www.russellbrown.com and then go to the Photoshop Tips & Techniques page and scroll down to the Scripts section where you can download ‘Dr. Brown's Services’. This, among other things, includes the Place-A-Matic script. Follow the installation instructions and when you next launch Bridge you should see this appear as one of the new script options in the Tools menu. Basically, the Place-A-Matic script can automate almost all the steps I have just described here and offers a quicker way to create double raw settings conversions via Smart Objects (note that you will still have to add a layer mask and decide how best to blend the two Smart Object layers).
High dynamic range imaging
It is interesting to see how camera sensor technology has evolved over the last few years and speculate what the future might have in store for us in the years to come. In time we may see camera sensors become available that are able to capture high dynamic range scenes in a single exposure. However, HDR cameras are not that common yet, so currently it is all about capturing bracketed sequences of images and blending these together to create single high dynamic range images that can contain the entire scenic tonal scale.
Other HDR applications
32-bit image editing is also used extensively to create the realistic CGI effects you see in many movies and television programs. These are all created using a 32-bit color space to render the computer-generated characters. It is necessary to do this in order to make them interact convincingly with the real world film footage. What usually happens is a light probe image is taken of the scene in which the main filming takes place. This is an omnidirectional HDR image which can consist of a sequence of six or seven overlapping exposures shot of a mirrored sphere. The resulting light probe image contains