Trial Blending

[brad_77]

Hey all
Been trying to learn how to blend multiple exposures which im finding quite hard as it is all new to me,so i thought i would post some pics up such as original shadows/highlights image & my ordinary attempt @ blending them.Would like to see how you guy's would pp them such as blending or dodging/burning them,Any help would be greatly appreciated.
1: shadows
2: highlights
3 & 4 My attemps, would like to get sharper & lighten the boat
Regards brad

[dbax]

Gday Brad, Just had a brief play with this.
I used image #3, the one on the left I used a dodge and burn layer(50% gray, overlay blend mode)and just dodged the Fg and boat.
On the right I duplicated the layer changed blending mode to screen (to lighten the whole image) then Layer>layermask>hide all. Then painted with a soft white brush at 15% until I revealed some detail. I then copied this layer twice to get the result shown.
I think your biggest issue is going to be what looks like a flare over the front 1/3 of the boat any more shadow recovery there really makes it obvious.
Hope this helps. I look forward to seeing what others might be able to achieve and how.

[Miaow]

I spose it's not really blending manually as such but if you had 3 shots of the boat with different EV say -1,0 and +1 (or can use one RAW file) you could try doing a HDR to blend it in more?

Here's a pseudo hdr just using the 3rd shot (using dynamic photo hdr)

[brad_77]

hey dbax i like the dodge layer,i find it hard to use this technique as i have tried a couple of times but dont really know what im doing as it is all new to me,just going to have to keep fiddling around with it i guess.

[brad_77]

Hey miaow like the foreground & the boat but not sure about the cliff in the background as it looks to overdone.but much better then the ones i came up with

[Miaow]

Here's another psuedo hdr using the 2nd one

[dbax]

hey dbax i like the dodge layer,i find it hard to use this technique as i have tried a couple of times but dont really know what im doing as it is all new to me,just going to have to keep fiddling around with it i guess.

Hey Brad somewhere there's a link to a short video tutorial on the Dodge & Burn layer technique, I'll see if I can find it....watch this space

Sorry about the delay had to go to another site to find it
http://www.photoshopkillertips.com/archives/344
heres the link, some times the vision doesn't show on the site but it works fine thru the download(quicktime).
Hope it helps

[dbax]

BTW nice work Cat, you can see the effect that the"flare" coming tru that dip in the hills is going to have on the boat