Pro-Tip #17: Luminosity Masks via Easy Panel

Rainbow Sky, Created Using Luminosity Masks - © Greg Clure

This year in my Pro-Tip section I am writing about ways to get creative so your images will standout from the other 880 billion photos that are expected to be taken in 2014. Luminosity masks are one such tool you can use in your post-processing workflow to gain greater control over the tones in any image. So, what are luminosity masks? Luminosity masks are nothing more than selections based on the brightness values of the image. These masks provide a convenient way to select a specific tone or range of tones in an image which can then be manipulated as you see fit.  They are useful when global adjustment can't get the job done or when you want to blend different exposures together in order to achieve a more realistic result than HDR programs are capable of achieving. Making your own luminosity masks can be tedious and time consuming and is why I use the Easy Panel. The Easy Panel is a free online tool that when installed to your Photoshop CS program will create 18 luminosity masks with the click of a single button as well as other cool features.  It doesn't get much easier than that! You can read all about the Easy Panel and download a free copy of this tool at  www.shutterevolve.com/easy-panel-photoshop/ and start your journey to more sophisticated image editing and move your photo processing results up to the next level.

Get All 8 Products in 1 Powerful Editor

The New Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 is here and it's never been this easy and fun to enhance and finish your photos. Get all 8 products in the Suite now, at a special discount, and receive 80 free bonus presets and textures! Learn more »

Quickly create a unique look with hundreds of photo effects and filters in the new Perfect Effects 8.5. Remove distractions in seconds with brush strokes. Combine multiple images and create multi-layered .psd files in Perfect Layers. Adjust color, contrast, and white balance quickly with Perfect Enhance 8.5. Remove backgrounds in minutes using simple tools in Perfect Mask. Correct skin color and fix portraits in Perfect Portrait. Create high-quality enlargements from low-resolution images, and crop and resize in one simple step in Perfect Resize.

OnOne Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 Now Available

****PRESS RELEASE****

Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 Now Available - Photo Editor for Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, Apple Aperture, and standalone use.

Update adds super-fast photo browsing, more file-management options, and improvements to the Perfect Eraser and Masking Bug tools!

Portland, OR - May 13, 2014 - onOne Software, Inc®., the leading developer of innovative digital photography solutions, today announced that Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 is now available, a new version of its full-featured photo editor, which works as a plug-in with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, and Apple Aperture, as well as a standalone app. Version 8.5 includes speed and productivity enhancements to the Perfect Photo Suite’s Browse module, improved performance with the Perfect Eraser tool, and enhanced masking support in Perfect Effects and Perfect Layers. In addition, RAW file support is now included with the Standard Edition in version 8.5.

Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 is available today as a free update to all owners of Perfect Photo Suite 8. It supports Photoshop CC, CS6, and CS5; Lightroom 5 and 4; Photoshop Elements 12, 11 and 10; and Apple Aperture 3.

onOne’s Perfect Photo Suite includes eight powerful, integrated applications, each one targeted to a specific photo-processing task:

* Perfect Effects. The richest and most versatile photo-stylization tool available on the
market today. It includes an extensive library of one-click presets, fully customizable
and adjustable effects and powerful masking tools, all of which help make your photos !pop.
* Perfect Enhance. Offers essential tools for basic enhancements, including brightness, contrast, sharpening and color cast removal. Enhance also has retouching features like the Perfect Eraser and a Clone tool, which makes it easy to remove objects, fix dust spots and repair flaws in a photo.

* Perfect B&W. Create stunning photos that recreate the timeless look created by the masters of black and white photography. Perfect B&W adds dramatic and elegant looks to photos, letting you easily create the many moods black and white
! photography can evoke, resulting in beautiful, one-of-a-kind photos.!
* Perfect Portrait. Offers simple, yet powerful, portrait retouching, with automated feature detection and enhancement tools to smooth skin, remove blemishes, brighten eyes and teeth, and correct skin color. Fast processing speeds also allow photographers to retouch images quickly for simply stunning portraits.

* Perfect Mask. Creates high-quality masks quickly and easily with automated functionality and powerful tools that make selecting subjects and isolating
!backgrounds for removal extraordinarily accurate.

* Perfect Layers. Gives photographers the ability to combine images and extend their photo-editing options in a layered file workflow without Photoshop. Photographers can create and edit multi-layered files with Perfect Layers directly from Lightroom, Aperture or when using the Perfect Photo Suite as a standalone application. Also included are blending modes, textures, borders, PNG file support, and the powerful
edge-detecting Perfect Brush.

* Perfect Resize. Still the industry standard for photo enlargement. It is renowned across the photographic and printing industries for its ability to increase image size well over 1000% without the loss of sharpness or detail that is normally expected. Proven Genuine Fractals technology has been applied to algorithms that optimize the clarity and detail of different photo types, including mobile snapshots.

* Perfect Browse. Quickly get to the photos you want to edit wherever they're stored— whether they're on your computer, network, or on a cloud-based storage service. Now includes one of the fastest previews available for browsing photos. Also great for viewing photos side-by-side in a thumbnail grid or in a larger, more detailed view along with important metadata and navigate through them with intuitive keyboard
shortcuts.

In addition, all Perfect Photo Suite 8 customers are automatically enrolled in the onOne Loyalty Rewards program. Each month customers receive free product add-ons such as presets, textures, backgrounds, ebooks, and other creative assets to help expand their photo editing arsenal and get the most from onOne products.

Availability and Pricing

Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 is now available. Existing owners of Perfect Photo Suite 8 are eligible for a free update. New users may purchase the Premium Edition for $179.95 or the Lightroom & Aperture Edition for only $99.95. The Standard Edition, a standalone application, is available for $79.95. Owners of earlier versions of the Perfect Photo Suite can upgrade to the Premium Edition for $99.95 or the Lightroom & Aperture Edition for $79.95.

For more information on Perfect Photo Suite 8.5 release, please visit www.ononesoftware.com.