Masking stacks

[ms.fuentecilla]

Hello

I would like to mask stacks to exclude some areas. I tried using quick mask but it proved impossible to either erase or paint using the paint tool. Am I seeking the impossible/improbable or is there a way to do this? The kind of stacking is to imitate movement but exclude some areas from the stack using only one of the stack group. 

[ms.fuentecilla]

Putting this another way, I would like the stacking to apply only to parts of the image and thought a quick mask might be the way to that

[Old Bruce]

12 minutes ago, ms.fuentecilla said:

... I would like the stacking to apply only to parts of the image ....

What should be in the parts that are not the 'stacked' parts?

[NotMyFault]

On 6/30/2022 at 6:30 PM, ms.fuentecilla said:

Putting this another way, I would like the stacking to apply only to parts of the image and thought a quick mask might be the way to that

Hi, your request is still a bit vague and unclear. The stacking functions work only great on complete opaque images. You might use masks on the resulting image, but it does not make any sense to mask areas on source images (before stacking).

it would help if you give more  concrete details about

• which type of stack do you use (simple stack, focus merge, hdr merge)
• use alignment or not
• what do you want to achieve by stacking (ghost removal, focus or hdr stacking, noise reduction, …)
• Why do you want to exclude parts of the document
• what do you want to include instead
• give example source file for stacking
• give exact stacking instructions 
• Provide details about the expected results

 

[Granddaddy]

Are you trying to achieve something like I showed at

You can indeed build an image that includes parts of various images in a stack with other parts of the images masked out. APhoto stacking is very robust.

It would help if you could provide an example of the result you want given your starting images, as I do in my brief tutorial

[ms.fuentecilla]

Hello NotmyFault

Whatever your fault might not be ... I want stacked shots of moving water to blur only the water and not its surroundings. Too much wind movement in the surrounding areas makes for an unpleasing image, so I would have liked to keep one of the 20 or so stacked images sharp with only the water 'moving'. It had occurred to me that someone else might have found a way of creating a mask to exclude those  parts of all except the water. The subject is usually a waterfall.

I sometimes use stacking for this kind of illusion. Focus stacking is something else as is Grandaddy's, which can also be interesting.

Edited July 19, 2022 by ms.fuentecilla
detail

[NotMyFault]

Dear ms.fuentescilla,

Assuming that you are using „new stack“, to create a stack of several source images

Could  you try the following workflow?

• create your stack of images, to get smoothed (average) rendering
• Duplicate of of one of the source images layers within the stack , and move it above the stack
• Add a mask keeping the parts you want „surroundings“, and letting the to-be-blurred parts „water“ shine through.

 

 

[ms.fuentecilla]

Now that seems a sensible and practical solution. I was so focused on the single process that it just hadn't occurred to me. I shall try it shortly. Thank you NotMyFault.