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Combining parts of images onto one


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Hi all, can someone help with something I am doing wrong.  I am trying to use the image below (RED) as a base image and then bring in parts of each of the other three onto the base image.  I've tried inverted masks but somehow I am not able to 'pull in' parts of the threes images onto the read one.

Economy_Airlines_2_jpeg.jpg

Economy_Airlines_blue.jpg

Economy_Airlines_green.jpg

Economy_Airlines_purple.jpg

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First, make sure you're working with (Pixel) layers (see the Layers panel), not (Image) layers. If you have (Image) layers you need to rasterize them (Layer menu, or right-click and choose Rasterize).

If that doesn't fix it for you, we'll need more context. Screenshots of complete workspace, exactly what you've tried, etc.

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Sorry, I don’t think i’ve made myself clear.  I am wanting to start light painting of a still life so I will end up with a lot of images of the same setting but each one will  have light applied to each part of the still light separately to different parts of the image.  I am wanting to know how I can bring in parts of each image into one background layer.  Each time I try using a mask I am able to place various parts into one image.  Any help would be most welcome, thanks.

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32 minutes ago, It123 said:

I will end up with a lot of images of the same setting

From the images in your original post, it looks as though the ‘different’ images are really just the same image with different Recolour or HSL adjustments. If my interpretation is correct, you can do it by adding an adjustment layer on top of a copy of the image layer and clip-nesting those two layers in a suitable shape layer.2B4DCA02-8E0D-476B-8644-ED8BB4316BFA.jpeg.c40ef8ace706fbcfe507d1eb5f47fdef.jpeg

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Sorry, I don’t think i’ve made myself clear.  I am wanting to start light painting of a still life so I will end up with a lot of images of the same setting but each one will  have light applied to each part of the still light separately to different parts of the image.  I am wanting to know how I can bring in parts of each image into one background layer.  Each time I try using a mask I am able to place various parts into one image.  Any help would be most welcome, thanks.

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Hi Alfred,  I am wanting to manually blend light painted images of still lifes, (possibly 3 or more together), and each image will have different amounts of light applied to them. So typically I might have bracketed images for exposure of the foreground, mid and background.  I want to do this manually and not use the  HDR  function.  I have managed to achieve this with 2 images but cannot work out how to do it with 3 or more.  Please tell me how to do this.  Thanks for any advice given

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7 minutes ago, It123 said:

, (possibly 3 or more together), and each image will have different amounts of light applied to them.

On your image I see an Airplane with its Airline name, a Suitcase, some sort of Smoke or Fire and the Sky. Which are the ones you want to be having different amounts of Light?

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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Hi old Bruce.  I’m sorry I think I gave a wrong choice of images to explain my problem.  What I am trying to do is combine parts of images from light painted still life’s. I want to use one of the images as a background and then pick small parts of the other images and add them to the main background.  I’ve done this with 2 images but I don’t know how to do it with 3,4,5 or 6 images.  

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5 minutes ago, It123 said:

I’ve done this with 2 images but I don’t know how to do it with 3,4,5 or 6 images.

Please show us the two images you started with, and show us what you’ve done with them.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Hi old Bruce.  I’m sorry I think I gave a wrong choice of images to explain my problem.  What I am trying to do is combine parts of images from light painted still life’s. I want to use one of the images as a background and then pick small parts of the other images and add them to the main background.  I’ve done this with 2 images but I don’t know how to do it with 3,4,5 or 6 images.  

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Thanks all, I've found a work around which I know someone may have already found.  The plan was to have a B&W background and bring parts of the colours from the green, purple and blue layers.  Started with a new stack and with the  B&W layer at the top, I added a white mask to the B&W layer and masked in the purple plane engine and then merged the B&W and purple layers together.  I put a new white mask on the newly merged top 2 layers and brought in the green wording.  Finally merged the 3 selected layers and with a white mask brought in the blue suitcase.  The final image is below and this gives me scope to bring various selections of a light painted still life together.  Only one big problem though, It looks like you will need to be certain of the work done before each merging because I can find a way of reediting them..... anyone found a another way?  

4_into_1.jpg

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When you say "Light painting" I think of taking a long exposure time photo (several seconds) with me shining a flash light beam on the object and moving the flash light from side to side, top to bottom to vary the shadows cast. Are we talking about the same thing?

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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5 hours ago, It123 said:

The plan was to have a B&W background and bring parts of the colours from the green, purple and blue layers.

Ah, OK, I would call that ‘popping’ colours.

5 hours ago, It123 said:

It looks like you will need to be certain of the work done before each merging because I can find a way of reediting them

From the context, I take it you meant to say you can’t find a way. I don’t understand why you would need to merge the layers instead of simply arranging them on top of each other, and any masks would always remain editable.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Hi Alfred, yes I do mean the light painting process with long exposures etc.  The problem I have found is that when I stack a range of images and mask them, I can get one of the layers to show through. As soon as I move to a second later I am not able to see the extra information I am trying to show through.  I only used the images of the plan etc as an example.. I am trying to make sure I can use AF for the processing before I start to get into the light painting (including any extra equipment needed) , as yet I am just planning a way through it.  

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Hi it123

I think it might be better if you stack your layers the other way round. Start with b&w as your base layer at the bottom of the stack then make your first layer visible and paint out what you don't want on it's mask. Then make your second layer visible and paint out what you don't want on its mask revealing what you want to see below. Keep doing that as you work up the stack.

If you need a reference to the original layer as you edit it toggle the mask off and on.

Remember the beauty of AP is just how much you can do non destructively.

Anyway good luck with your light painting project!

 

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Hi Alfred, yes I do mean the light painting process with long exposures etc.  The problem I have found is that when I stack a range of images and mask them, I can get one of the layers to show through. As soon as I move to a second later I am not able to see the extra information I am trying to show through.  I only used the images of the plan etc as an example.. I am trying to make sure I can use AF for the processing before I start to get into the light painting (including any extra equipment needed) , as yet I am just planning a way through it.  

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Hi Harry,  i’ve Tried putting the base layer at the top and the bottom but each time I am only allowed to bring in one from the stack.  When I compare to what other do on PS (ie mask between each layer) it does not as it’s shown in PS.  I’ll have to stop pulling my hair out , bit the bulletins pay for PS.

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I think you need to use masks.

It is really difficult to try and figure out what you are trying to do without any kind of example. The plane photo and the luggage photo are not what I would consider to be light paintings. Light Painting long exposure photos are just photos and you may need to mask parts of it. I realize that you have none as you are talking about "extra equipment'.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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Hi Old Bruce.  If you can forget the plan images.  With the ‘light painting’ process of still life setups.  You will typically end up with up to 10+ images of the setup but each will a different part painted in using a touch.  The next process is to blend the part you want from each of the images onto a single base layer.  So it involves bringing in stack of photos and ungrouping them .  So far so go as each has been aligned in AF and layer is given a mask. You should be able to work through the stack putting only the parts of each layer you need onto the base layer and this build a type of composite image.  I’ve seen this done in PS with no problem but it seems to be a problem in AF.  Hope this make it clear what i’m planning to do.  Regards Terry.

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You can try using the Blend modes, I would start with Lighten. I have tossed together a quick and nasty (tm) example using one image with three copies that had different Filters > Lighting... filters on each and saving them as separate files to illustrate the different 'Light Painting" pictures you would maybe have. The bottom layer is at 50% opacity just to show what the original image looked like.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.4 
Affinity Designer 2.4.0 | Affinity Photo 2.4.0 | Affinity Publisher 2.4.0 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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Hi Old Bruce.  If you can forget the plan images.  With the ‘light painting’ process of still life setups.  You will typically end up with up to 10+ images of the setup but each will a different part painted in using a touch.  The next process is to blend the part you want from each of the images onto a single base layer.  So it involves bringing in stack of photos and ungrouping them .  So far so go as each has been aligned in AF and layer is given a mask. You should be able to work through the stack putting only the parts of each layer you need onto the base layer and this build a type of composite image.  I’ve seen this done in PS with no problem but it seems to be a problem in AF.  Hope this make it clear what i’m planning to do.  Regards Terry.

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'if' I understand you correctly, the process should be quite simple..

Open your background.

  1. add your still on top of that.
  2. give it a mask and invert it.
  3. Then paint with white on the mask to paint back the part of that image that you want.
  4. back to 1

 

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4 hours ago, It123 said:

Hi Old Bruce.  If you can forget the plan images.  With the ‘light painting’ process of still life setups.  You will typically end up with up to 10+ images of the setup but each will a different part painted in using a touch.  The next process is to blend the part you want from each of the images onto a single base layer.  So it involves bringing in stack of photos and ungrouping them .  So far so go as each has been aligned in AF and layer is given a mask. You should be able to work through the stack putting only the parts of each layer you need onto the base layer and this build a type of composite image.  I’ve seen this done in PS with no problem but it seems to be a problem in AF.  Hope this make it clear what i’m planning to do.  Regards Terry.

Why do you want to put each part onto the base layer? That's destructive editing, very inefficient. I wouldn't build an image like that even in PS. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, forums can be quite frustrating at times when trying to explain things!

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