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29 Mar 2024

Luminosity Mask

Term: Luminosity Mask
Description: Luminosity masks are a set of Photoshop tools that allow you to make precise selections based on the brightness of the pixels in an image. With luminosity masks, you can target specific areas of an image for editing, without affecting other parts of the image. For example, you can use a luminosity mask to select the brightest pixels in an image, and then increase the brightness of those pixels without affecting the rest of the image. Luminosity masks are a powerful tool for fine-tuning images, and they can be used to create stunning effects that would be difficult to achieve with other methods. If you're looking for a way to take your Photoshop skills to the next level, luminosity masks are a great place to start.

Expanded Definition

Luminosity masks are the key feature in Photoshop that allows you to make simple controlled tone based adjustments to your images. These masks offer a quick and easy way to select only the specific tones that you want to modify, and then an easy way to modify them without effecting the rest of the image.

This can be a great asset when trying to modify images with complex tonal ranges, or lots of mixed light that can make it hard to modify without negatively effecting other parts of the image. These masks also give you the ability to change the light of an image in a way that means you can really modify an image and mold it into your vision.

3 Steps to Removing Shadows With Custom Luminosity Masks

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Photoshop you will inevitably run into a situation where you are looking for a bit more control over your color or tone adjustments. However, making isolated changes, such as removing unwanted shadows can be tedious and complex. Fortunately, Greg Benz has simplified this process with his luminosity masking panel for Photoshop, Lumenzia. One of the benefits of this panel is that it gives you a full screen preview of the mask before you apply it to your image. This serves to eliminate any confusion or guessing about what a mask will do to your image. In his video, Greg is very detailed in his explanation but this tutorial only has three steps.

Step 1 – Use the preview that closest to the desire mask. (7:28)

He begins with selecting the custom zone picker which allows him to single out the specific tone he wants to adjust. As he explains this first step, you’ll glean that it is necessary to recognize if you need to change the luminosity of your selection or the color. In this instance, it’s the color.

Step 2 – Adjust the B&W color sliders to improve the mask. (8:02)

Once he determines that it’s the color, he refines his the targeted selection. By testing the different color channels, he is able to discover the relevant adjustments he needs to make.

Step 3 – Adjust the curve to improve the mask. (9:24)

The last step is another level of refinement. This time he uses the Curves layer to isolate the image even more. At this point, you should be mindful of the amount of time you invest in trying to make your selection perfect. It doesn’t need to be because the effects of the layer on your final image will be much more subtle.

Before

After

If you Lumenzia is a tool that would fit nicely into your workflow, you can purchase it for $39 it at his website. For such a powerful tool, it is well worth the cost. If you’d like to see more of Greg’s helpful Photoshop tutorials, you can find them on his YouTube page.