Luminosity Masks

[MikeFromMesa]

In Photoshop and in PerfectPhoto Suite it is possible to create Luminosity Masks and use them to adjust the image as a whole. The mask, of course, just allows more adjustment in some areas than in others, but the entire image would (normally) be adjusted. Is there any way to create the same kind of mask in APB?

 

I know you can select Highlights, but that creates a selection of the highlights and any adjustment only adjusts that part of the image. I saw a post about creating a mask based on Luminosity by selecting the gradient icon in the Channels panel of the studio, but that only seems to give me a white mask. When I click on the Create Mask From Channel icon in the alpha channel I similarly get something that looks nothing like a real luminosity mask.

 

I am reasonably confident that there is some way to do this (other than using another tool to create the Luminosity Mask, save it and then load it into APB :D ) but I don't seem to be able to find it (or, perhaps I am using the gradient icon incorrectly?). Can someone point me to the proper way to create a luminosity mask in APB?

 

Thank you.

 

[Andy Somerfield]

Hi Mike,

 

Have you tried Shift+Cmd+Click on the layer you would like to make a luminosity mask from? It should give you a pixel selection, at which point you can proceed to add any adjustment layer (capturing the pixel selection), then clear away the pixel selection with Cmd+D.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Andy.

[MikeFromMesa]

 

Have you tried Shift+Cmd+Click on the layer you would like to make a luminosity mask from? It should give you a pixel selection, at which point you can proceed to add any adjustment layer (capturing the pixel selection), then clear away the pixel selection with Cmd+D.

 

 

I have now. Thank you. But I still have a question.

 

Is there any way to adjust the amount of pixels selected by the action? I know that sounds strange since it is supposed to be a Luminosity Mask automatically based on the lightness/darkness of the image, but the amount of selected material is much, much lower in the APB mask than in comparable masks created by Photoshop and PerfectPhoto Suite.I understand that APB is not, and is not meant to be, Photoshop, but look at two of the masks.

 

Here is what the PPS Luminosity Mask looks like. The Photoshop make is almost identical:

 

 

Here is the APB Luminosity Mask. As you can see there is a big difference.

 

 

It looks as though the selection criteria in APB is much tighter than in the other two editors but, as I understand it, all Luminosity Masks should be relatively the same since the selection criteria should be the same. I don't know if this is a bug, but it will be much harder to adjust this image with the Luminosity Mask created by APB compared to that created by Photoshop and PerfectPhoto Suite 9. And, for what it is worth, the raw image was loaded into Photoshop and APB without any adjustments.

 

Just asking.