Not sure how much you’ve figured out on your own at this point, but I thought I’d jump back in and at least answer your first question after my original post.

Here’s the copy from the tutorial that you had a question on:

Selectively go through your image adding back pieces of the original exposure where you deem necessary. (I like to use a very low opacity brush, 40 or 50 percent usually works fine.)

At this point in the tutorial, you should have four layers: the two layers that you blended using the Blending Options and the copy that you made of these two layers before you blended them. The copies should be at the top of the layer stack above the two layers that you just blended. The two layers at the top should both have a mask filled with black. A black mask completely hides everything on a layer. White in a mask will reveal the layer. So you want to paint on the mask with white. Make sure the mask is active by clicking on its thumbnail in the Layers panel.

So, for example, if there’s an area in the layer that has good highlight detail that you would like to make visible, simply use the Brush tool and paint in that area in white. You should see that white area appear in the thumbnail for the mask in the Layers panel. You want to use a soft-edged brush, and you want to lower it’s opacity in the Options Bar. This makes the transitions much softer from the areas that are hidden by the mask to the areas that are visible. If you painted with a hard-edged brush at full opacity, the transition would have a hard edge and the changes would be much more obvious.

After you paint, if the area is too bright, undo the edit, select a lower opacity for the Brush tool and try again. You can also switch to black and paint over those areas to hide them again.

Help this helps. Let me know what your next question is.

Thanks,
Chris Main
Managing Editor

http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cs3ps.jpg

And I have on the original highlights layer, the white arrow split under the Blend If section, of ‘This Layer’ so that the Shadows layer can show through..I think? Here’s a picture of that too.

http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cs3ps2.jpg

Selectively go through your image adding back pieces of the original exposure where you deem necessary. (I like to use a very low opacity brush, 40 or 50 percent usually works fine.)

So does that mean with Brush Tool (B) with white, opacity of about 40%? That way it makes it SEEM like its brightening it up, or is there an exposure brush? /sigh, sorry for the silly question. And on what layer, or layer mask am I brushing on? If from this step it could be more detailed I would understand , and I can’t believe I am having a hard time with this.

I’ll try to help. When Mark refers to “global curves,” he is saying to use a regular Curves adjustment layer without any selections in the image, meaning it affects the entire image and not just a portion of it. The Curves adjustment layer can be found by clicking on the half black, half white circle at the bottom of the Layers palette and selecting Curves.

As for Quick Mask mode, try double-clicking the Quick Mask mode icon near the bottom of your Toolbox (it should be the second icon from the bottom). In the resulting Quick Mask Options dialog, turn on the radio button for Selected Areas. The Color should be set to red by default, but if it isn’t, just click on the color swatch and choose red in the Color Picker. Opacity should be set to 50%. Click OK and try painting on the image. Your brush strokes should be a transparent red.

Let me know what other specific questions you have.

Thanks,
Chris Main
Managing Editor
Layers Magazine

I understood everything including ‘Next, make sure these layers are above your masked layers.’, but nothing beyond that, any help would be appreciated.