The Saga of Blend If Continues…

Just in case you missed the basic tutorial on this, here it is.

I just couldn’t leave well enough alone with the Blend If options in Photoshop.  After playing with the Blend If options I came up with a way to make organic Noise Reduction and Sharpening adjustments.  What I mean by this is that if you make a Noise Reduction layer that protects the highlights and shadows with the Blend if options then anything you put under (lighter or darker) will change the outcome of the Noise reduction layer above it.  The same will happen with sharpening.

Blend-If

When you sharpen a photograph it is best to not sharpen globally as global sharpening will also sharpen the Shadows and that is typically where all of the noise resides.  Likewise, if you reduce the noise in an image it is best to do it on just the shadows as much of what is considered noise in the shadows is actually detail in the midtones.

Using the Blend If options you can create a Noise Reduction layer or a sharpening layer and then tell Photoshop what you want it to protect using the Blend if options.  If anything changes under those layers, the Blend If options will kick in and organically change based on the Blend If constraints.

I don’t know if you are as excited about this as I am or if this all sounded like psychobabble to you.  No problem either way, the video tutorial will cover it in great detail.  I have also created a series of Actions for you that do all of the heavy lifting!  Enjoy the tutorial and get your hands dirty with the blend if options, they are incredible!

 

Download the Action

Blake Rudis
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
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