I don't have a graduated ND filter, so I have to rely on post-processing to get the sky and foreground in proper balance, but I always seem to have a tough time getting the 2 to look natural and w/o halo'ing and minimizing the transition between the two...
Can anyone recommend ways of selection that would best accomplish this?
Adam, do you use HDR software? it needs the right tweaking and enough bracketed exposures(from what I read), like around 5 to get it looking good. I just layer them manually in photoshop, light on top of dark and erase away anything that's too bright. Even when using HDR I dont use that as a main layer.
In case this isn't already common knowledge, these shortcuts to selecting highlights is a must know for any Photoshop user who ventures into layer masks:
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+tilde (this selects the lightest areas)
or
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+1 (this increases the selection by capturing more of the light areas)
or
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+2 (this increases the selection even more capturing more of the lighter areas)
Those help to select the highlights of an image. You can also keep applying those shortcuts to increase your selection to the point where only the darkest shadows remain unselected. If you do an inverse selection of that you get just the shadows. If you save that selection and the selection created by the first or second shortcut you can get the midtones with some overlap of both the highlights and shadows. If your image has a good tonal range (i.e. covers all the zones) then you can isolate just the midtones this way. What's great about these shortcuts is they work far better than the highlight selections done via the menu option. These selections are feathered so you don't get rough edges. This is key because that's what you want when you are blending in different exposures where you have a gradual transition of light to dark.
In case this isn't already common knowledge, these shortcuts to selecting highlights is a must know for any Photoshop user who ventures into layer masks:
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+tilde (this selects the lightest areas)
or
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+1 (this increases the selection by capturing more of the light areas)
or
Hold down: Shift+Ctrl+Alt+2 (this increases the selection even more capturing more of the lighter areas)
Those help to select the highlights of an image. You can also keep applying those shortcuts to increase your selection to the point where only the darkest shadows remain unselected. If you do an inverse selection of that you get just the shadows. If you save that selection and the selection created by the first or second shortcut you can get the midtones with some overlap of both the highlights and shadows. If your image has a good tonal range (i.e. covers all the zones) then you can isolate just the midtones this way. What's great about these shortcuts is they work far better than the highlight selections done via the menu option. These selections are feathered so you don't get rough edges. This is key because that's what you want when you are blending in different exposures where you have a gradual transition of light to dark.
If this is all old news just ignore.
Wasn't common knowledge to me, thanks :)
(ps- I never remember these things when I want to use them so I started a wordpad file of tips that I cut and paste these quickies that don't require bookmarking the whole thread. Comes in very handy!)
Hey guys thanks a lot for the tips... I wrote a lot of this stuff down (I have a similar 'post-it' note on my desktop for this stuff...) and plan on adding it to my repertoire.
Adam, couple of comments. first, get your self the cokin system and some ND grads! cheap enough, and will make editing easier since you won't need to do as much! Second, looking at that shot, it looks like a little heavy hand on the shadows/highlights adjustments. (lightened shadows too much, in particular). Third, have you tried a gradient mask. this is one that I like to play with, since how you move your mouse will affect the gradient. It's useful to help tone down specific areas of the image. Fourth, check out idnic's tutorial on working with soft light layers. I've found these very useful, even using colors other than black/white. Hope this helps.
