Luminance Masking can tame a high contrast scene and help reduce loss of highlight and shadow detail. This technique works with images saved as RAW images (.CRW files). Briefly, the technique is analogous to taking two images: one image is exposed for the highlights and another for the shadows. The images are then combined in the digital darkroom to take advantage of the best of both.

The procedure begins by opening a RAW image file in Adobe Camera RAW and adjusting the exposure for the shadows--not worrying about the effects on the highlights. After the image is adjusted for the shadows, it is opened for normal processing (clicking the open button in Figure 8). Once the image is opened in the Photoshop workspace, it is saved with a different file name, such as dark.psd. With this image left open, the RAW image is again opened in Camera RAW. Now the exposure slider is adjusted for the highlights--not worrying about the shadows. When this image is opened for Photoshop processing, two images, call them dark and light, are now in the workspace. While holding down the Shift key, the light image is dragged onto the dark image. This will create two layers on the dark image: the light image will now be layered on top of the dark (background) image. Holding the Shift key down while dragging the light image onto the dark results in perfectly registered images. The original light image can now be closed as it is no longer needed.

Figure 11 shows the "As Shot" RAW image of an entrance to another Seattle Landmark, The Pike Place Market. Figure 12 shows the image after Photoshop Processing, including Luminance Masking.

In Figure 13, the Camera RAW exposure was adjusted to +2.45; in Figure 14 the exposure was adjusted to -1.10. I saved the images as "Dark" and "Light".