Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers

164 Digital Darkroom

Multi-RAW Processing

Multi-RAW Processing

Multi-RAW processing means combining multiple ver-

sions with differing exposures and color values from

a single RAW original. Typically, these versions aren’t

“straight,” meaning they are applied using a blending

mode (see sidebar), and at some reduced percentage

of opacity.

If you’ve processed two exposures from the same origi-

n

al (let’s say one is much brighter than the other), you

can drag one of the images onto the other image in

Photoshop to create a single, two-layer image. If both

images are the same size, its easy to align the two layers

precisely. (The trick for precise alignment is to hold

down the Shift key when you drag one image on top

of the other.)

The requirement that the images be the same size for

precise alignment is a good reason to wait until you

are entirely through with combining RAW conversions

before you do any cropping of your photo.

Quite often, I’ll add a layer mask (see sidebar, page 163)

to one of these multi-RAW layers and plan to either

“paint in” specific areas, or to apply an overall gradient

to let the layer blend in smoothly.

With all of the layers converted from RAW in place,

my next step will be to proceed to enhancements in

Photoshop itself.

Blending Modes

Blending modes are used to describe how a layer mixes with the

layers beneath it (layers are ...