Translucent Alpha Channels & Masks for Compositing

Image Needing Tranlucent Mask

Translucent Mask

A large part of the beauty and potential of alpha channels is how sophisticated they can be. When working in photomontage we most often desire a mask that eliminates a significant portion of an image element (typically a background) so that it can be composited into a base image. This helps create the illusion of unity and believability of the final composition. Yet, there are times when a mask should have translucency in at least some parts of it in order to make the results look real.

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Channeling Channels

Red Channel Green Channel Blue Channel

Channels are grayscale image components defined by primary or secondary colors. Well…that statement is only sort of true but we must start here before we elaborate. Sadly, it's this kind of ambiguity and qualification that can make people want to avoid the notion of channels altogether. While it is, indeed, true that our discussion of channels should start with the basic premise that they are defined by primary-color components, their actual functionality runs far deeper than that. But, begin here we must.

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The Round Trip: Why Photoshop Matters (Part 2)

In the last post I declared that Photoshop is essential to effective photo editing. Let's now explore why this is true. While parametric editing with applications like Lightroom and Aperture are efficient, convenient, and non-destructive, we often need access to the tools and capabilities of Photoshop. In fact, I'd argue that we always need them—as long as we have the time and resources to do so.

It should be noted that more and more plugins are available to be used with Lightroom and Aperture without the intervention or support of Photoshop. This drastically extends capabilities. But, it also creates a new image file, much like what we get with the roundtrip to Photoshop. So, I'd argue that we might use these plugins with Photoshop instead as it ultimately gives us much more control.

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The Round Trip: Why Photoshop Matters (Part 1)

Hermit's Creek Canyon | Mark Lindsay

Raw processing of digital images has become a standard and essential part of the serious, digital workflow. Applications like Adobe's Lightroom and Apple's Aperture have revolutionized imaging workflow. They provide us photographers with efficient and lightweight editing capabilities for our images. One might surmise that this will render Photoshop obsolete. Why invest in a complex and expensive application that takes years to master when very good images can be made quickly and intuitively elsewhere? The argument for the elimination of Photoshop might be compelling but it is also wrong.

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Hiking and Cameras

Inner Gorge Rainstorm, Grand Canyon | Mark Lindsay

I just returned from my seventh Grand Canyon hike. Each time my friends and I have hiked from the rim to the river and back up to the same rim or to the other rim on the opposite side. Each time I've taken my camera. In fact, I've never been on any hike anywhere without a camera. My camera and lens are hiking equipment as important to me as my hiking shoes and poles. Some of my favorite images have been made when on the trail or resting alongside it.

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