You'll be clicking the two thumbnails in the Levels adjustment
layer.
Be sure you know the name and location of each thumbnail.
The Levels window thumbnail is to the left.
The Mask thumbnail is to the right.
Make a Shadows Luminosity Mask
1) Create a Levels adjustment layer.
Click the Create
adjustment layer icon, the half-dark, half-bright, circle at the
top of the Layers palette, and select Levels.
The Levels window will open.
Click OK.
You'll use the layer to change the exposure and contrast later.
2) Make another
Background copy layer, which Photoshop Elements will name as Background
copy 2.
You'll use the Background copy 2 layer to make a mask.
Then, you'll hide the Background copy 2 layer.
3) Make sure
the Background copy 2 layer is active.
4) Press Ctrl
+ u to open a Hue/Saturation window.
5) To make the
Background copy 2 layer into a B&W image, reduce the saturation
to -100 in the Hue/Saturation window.
6) To
invert the Background copy 2 layer, press Ctrl
+ i.
7) To select
the entire Background copy 2 layer, press Ctrl + a.
8) To copy the
entire Background copy 2 layer, press Ctrl + c.
The image of the Background copy 2 layer is now on the clipboard
"waiting" to pasted as a mask.
9) Press Alt,
hold, and click the white mask thumbnail (not the Levels window
thumbnail) in the Levels adjustment layer.
The photograph will turn white.
The white is the color of the mask.
Note
Pressing Alt, holding, and clicking the mask thumbnail, just
"opens the door" to the "mask department."
The action doesn't create any change by itself.
The action just allows you to replace the default white mask
with a luminosity mask.
It's the luminosity mask that's doing the work, creating the
change.
Paste
10) Press Ctrl
+ v to paste the image of the Background copy 2 layer as a mask.
The image of the Background copy 2 layer will appear as the mask.
The mask thumbnail is no longer white, but contains the B&W and
inverted photograph.
11) Press Alt,
hold, and click the mask thumbnail (not the Levels window thumbnail)
in the Levels adjustment layer.
This "closes" the door to the "mask department."
12) Press Ctrl
+ d, or Esc, to deselect the selection of the photograph.
13) You no longer need the Background copy 2 layer.
Click the Eye
icon of the Background copy 2 layer to hide the layer.
14) To select
the shadows luminosity mask, press Ctrl and click the Levels window
thumbnail (not the mask thumbnail) in the Levels adjustment layer.
15) Make changes
to the selection.
Exposure & Contrast
a) If you need to change the exposure and contrast, double click
the Levels window thumbnail (not the mask thumbnail) in the Levels
adjustment layer.
The Levels window will reopen.
b) Use the Levels window to make the changes.
Hue/Saturation
a) If you need to change the color, create a Hue/Saturation adjustment
layer.
b) If you already have a a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, double click the Hue/Saturation window thumbnail (not the
mask thumbnail) in the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.
The Hue/Saturation window will open.
c) Use the Hue/Saturation window to make the changes.
Other Changes
You can change the selected areas in many other ways, such as
using a Photo Filter adjustment layer.
Make Sure There's a Selection
Before making a change, make sure the selection is still present.
If the selection has disappeared, go to Select > Reselect.
If the selection doesn't reappear, press Ctrl and click the Levels
window thumbnail (not the mask thumbnail) in the Levels adjustment
layer.
Reduce the Range
Of a Shadows Selection
You can reduce the range of a shadows selection.
You'll probably want to do this for many of your photographs.
Reduce the range when the selection extends too far up into the
highlights.
1) Open the histogram palette.
2) Select the Levels adjustment layer to make it active (highlighted).
3) Stretch your fingers.
4) Press Shift + Alt + Ctrl, and click the mask thumbnail (not
the Levels window thumbnail) in the Levels adjustment layer.
Each time you do the above, the range of the selection shifts
to pixels with darker and darker brightness values.
The brighter pixel brightness levels are "cropped" with each
click.
No Pixels More than 50% Selected
The dialogue box below appears when you reduce the range of a
selection below the brightness value of 128, which is 50% gray.
The selection is still there.
But, the marching ants won't be displayed.
As described above, the marching ants only delineate the parts
of a selection which have brightness values greater than 128.
Just click OK and continue.
Blending Modes
You can experiment with changing the Mode of the Levels layer.
The Screen and Multiply blending modes, respectively, lighten
or darken.
The Overlay blending mode will increase the contrast.
Soft Light increases the contrast less than Overlay, and Hard
Light, more than Overlay.
Another Common Error
Not Easy to Grasp at First
The following will be easier to understand after you've used
both highlights and shadows luminosity masks.
Explanation
In the above shadows luminosity mask tutorial, the photograph
was converted to B&W, and was then inverted.
The mask was made from the image of the inverted photograph.
2) Make an inverse of the highlights selection, to make a shadows
luminosity mask.
If they were to experiment with the above method, they'd discover
that it doesn't perform as expected.
By inverting the photograph, the brightness values of the photograph
are inverted.
The lighter brightness values are now in the shadows, and the
darker ones, are now in the highlights.
This permits the photographer to change the shadows more than
the highlights.
If the brightness values are not inverted, as is the case when
an inverse is made of the highlights selection, the shadows will
not change at a greater rate than the highlights.
Rather, the midtones will change more than the shadows.
That's because brightness values of the midtones are brighter
than those of the shadows.
Invert the Photograph
So, be sure to invert the photograph, when you're making a shadows
luminosity mask, as described above.
When you use the correct mask, the shadows will be affected more
because they're white to gray in the mask.
Remember:
• Where there's black on the mask, 100% of a change is concealed.
• Where there's white on the mask, 100% of a change is revealed.
• As the grays of the mask vary in brightness between 0% and
100%, so does the effect of a change vary between 0% and 100%.
Correct Mask: Inverted Version of the Photograph
Wrong Mask: Inverse of the Highlights Selection
Don't Make an Inverse
Of the Highlights Selection
If you use the incorrect mask, to the right above, the shadows
will be affected less because they're gray to black in the mask.
Again:
• Where there's black on the mask, 100% of a change is concealed.
• Where there's white on the mask, 100% of a change is revealed.
• As the grays of the mask vary in brightness between 0% and
100%, so does the effect of a change vary between 0% and 100%.
