PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 111
PHOTOSHOP
7
Control the shadows
It’s the same for the shadows. Ctrl+click on one ofthe
Shadows channels (‘Shadows 4’ in this case), andadd
another Adjustment Layer. This time we added a Curves layerand
pushed it up. As we only wanted to affect the castle, we alsoused
th e Brush (B), set to black, and painted out the other areas.
8
Make other localised adjustments
In the example picture, we added the selection for
‘Highlights 4’, and added a Color Balance Adjustment
Layer, moving the sliders towards Red and Yellow. Finally, we
loaded the selection for ‘Midtones 2’, added a Curves Adjustment
Layer and pulled the curve down to darken the midtones.6
Turn the channels into
Luminosity Masks
The channels you’ve made can
now be put to good use as Luminosity
Masks. All you have to do to use them is
Ctrl+click on the relevant channel to load
it as a selection, then open the Layers
panel (Window>Layers), and finally click
on the Add new fill or adjustment layer
icon. Whichever adjustment you choose
from the list, it will be added to the layer
stack and the attached mask will be
based on the active selection – that’s
your Luminosity Mask. Here, we started
with Ctrl+click on ‘Highlights 3’ to load
it as a selection, then added a Curves
Adjustment Layer. In the Curves panel,
we’ve pulled the curve down, but notice
how its histogram is bunched to the right,
showing that adjustment only affects the
highlight areas of the image.EXPERT ADVICE W HAT ELSE
CAN YOU USE THEM FOR?
It’s not just Adjustment Layers than can make use of Luminosity
Masks in order to precisely direct the editing. You can also use
them to mask regular layer effects li
sharpening. Click on the Backgroun
layer and press Ctrl+J to duplicateit
th en go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp
Mask to add sharpness to thenew
la yer. To keep that sharpening
in the highlights, Ctrl+click on
‘Highlights 1’ and then click the
Add a mask icon at the foot ofthe
palette. When you’re done withthe
adjustments, make sure yougo to
Layer>Flatten Image and savethe
image as a JPEG.TIP!
If youseea red
ov erlayon theimage, it
meansthatyou’vemade
oneof thenew channels
visible.Justswitchit off in
theChannelspanel
usingtheeye
icon.