[Free Soul]

I use PS just for few things - I am not very known with it. But I know what I need to know.

But before you start with PS your picture must be near to perfection of your skills and your idea what you want to achieve at the end.

So - best possible shot in RAW.
And then PP.

In PS I use:
layers, clone stamp, curves, color balance, photo filter, sharpening. Adding textures. Black and White conversion via Gradient Map.

That's all. I learned the masks last year, before that I used two layers and the eraser tool.

So, about layers and masks in short:

You open underexposed shot - great bokeh, well exposed sky, but skin is dark. So you need lighter version of the skin.
You can open new version with overexposed - but well exposed skin, or to duplicate layer of the darker and to choose Screen blending.

So - drag the lighter one over the darker, or blend the duplicated layer in Screen.

I will proceed with the second example.

When you choose Screen, the whole picture is much, much lighter. But you need only skin to be. So you need to reverse the results for the whole shot and to fix only a small area. That's why - step on the mask, press Ctrl + I, and the mask turns black. Again darker shot. Get the brush tool. Make it white. Choose Opacity 20. Soft brush you need. Paint over the skin. It gets lighter.

Then you can adjust the Opacity through the Layers Blending. For better results Choose Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur and try the different % of blending.

Than Merge the Layers and you are ready.

Or - when you need to fix the bigger part of the picture, than the mask will be white - no Ctrl+ I, and you will paint with black brush on the areas you want.

For example:
Darker shot. You need much lightening for the whole picture, but you like the dark areas in some parts.
Duplicate Layer. Choose Screen. Choose Opacity on Layers. You get the result you need. But you want some parts to be darker as before. Make Mask. It's white. Choose black brush. Paint over the areas you want - they will be as they were before Screen.

It's harder to be explain than in fact the things are. Try and will understand. Also there are many video lessons in internet about masks.

[CrazyNuts]

Thank you so much Svetlana for explaining your workflow. You are an asset to this forum.

[kaiserz]

Indeed! Pure awesomeness!

[D4rknezz]

I use PS just for few things - I am not very known with it. But I know what I need to know.

But before you start with PS your picture must be near to perfection of your skills and your idea what you want to achieve at the end.

So - best possible shot in RAW.
And then PP.

In PS I use:
layers, clone stamp, curves, color balance, photo filter, sharpening. Adding textures. Black and White conversion via Gradient Map.

That's all. I learned the masks last year, before that I used two layers and the eraser tool.

So, about layers and masks in short:

You open underexposed shot - great bokeh, well exposed sky, but skin is dark. So you need lighter version of the skin.
You can open new version with overexposed - but well exposed skin, or to duplicate layer of the darker and to choose Screen blending.

So - drag the lighter one over the darker, or blend the duplicated layer in Screen.

I will proceed with the second example.

When you choose Screen, the whole picture is much, much lighter. But you need only skin to be. So you need to reverse the results for the whole shot and to fix only a small area. That's why - step on the mask, press Ctrl + I, and the mask turns black. Again darker shot. Get the brush tool. Make it white. Choose Opacity 20. Soft brush you need. Paint over the skin. It gets lighter.

Then you can adjust the Opacity through the Layers Blending. For better results Choose Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur and try the different % of blending.

Than Merge the Layers and you are ready.

Or - when you need to fix the bigger part of the picture, than the mask will be white - no Ctrl+ I, and you will paint with black brush on the areas you want.

For example:
Darker shot. You need much lightening for the whole picture, but you like the dark areas in some parts.
Duplicate Layer. Choose Screen. Choose Opacity on Layers. You get the result you need. But you want some parts to be darker as before. Make Mask. It's white. Choose black brush. Paint over the areas you want - they will be as they were before Screen.

It's harder to be explain than in fact the things are. Try and will understand. Also there are many video lessons in internet about masks.

*grin* Aww apparently I can't add a second like! Very nice free soul.

Tip on brushing: Brushing over a mask is pretty tricky with a mouse. Enlarge the image area to minimize error when brushing. Or, invest on a tablet. Please note that tablets are not intuitive though, and will need a learning curve (without this awareness, i know friends who gave up). Once you are used to it you will be able to use a tablet better than you have ever used a mouse.

[Ecaterin]

Nice work-flow, Free Soul! *hits 'like' button*

I do something very similar in effect using the Nik software suite - it has fantastic tools for bringing up just one area or color or contrast or whatever. Very specific, very fast and very smart program. I wouldn't have known how to do anything in straight PS that you're describing, so this is really cool to read! Nik has spoiled me :P