Struggling with exposure blending

[ST Colin]

Hi all,

For a long time I have struggled with blending exposures. With flat horizons I can usually create a decent outcome using the gradient tool, but for more complex photos, I just can't do it. I've watched countless videos, read loads of tutorials, and I still don't know what I'm doing. Below is a photo I'm trying to edit. I know that it isn't a great photo in itself, but it's a good example of the type I struggle with.

So, what I've done up to this point is create two layers from two different exposures. Used layer masks to brush through the sky, and here comes the problem. Along the edge of the hillside, I get the overlap. I've tried the burn tool on this, but it's pretty useless. I've tried the select tool, refine the edge. I've tried luminosity masks. Nothing works.

Can someone helps me out?


https://www.flickr.com/photos/colinhines26/20788402132/in/dateposted-public/

Apologies for the link, I can't seem to lift the code out of Flickr correctly.

Thanks in advance,

Colin

 

[ianp5a]

You could stick to your method, but mask very closely to the edge. Zoom in and use a small brush size. It would work. But be quite time consuming.

However, in this picture, the edge of the sky and land is well defined. So you can use it to create a mask without hand painting. For this, copy the brightest layer and make it a very high contrast, and convert it to black and white. Then use it to mask one of the exposure layers. The trick is to set the contrast so that the land/sky edge is pure black and white. Away from the edge, just paint out any residual white or black blotches. See attached. View attachment 44645