34 Selective Lighting

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate
Page 01
Lighting for Photoshop

In previous lessons we have taken a good look at shooting exteriors and interiors along with lighting
approaches and Photoshop techniques. We have explored how to light a room with strobes, umbrellas,
and grids. We have looked at how to get good images without supplemental light using HDR. Now, this
final lesson will take a closer look at a few other techniques that use various lighting approaches and
Photoshop techniques.
I like the term 'Shooting for Photoshop'. This is a strategy that is used when a photographer chooses to
create or build an image using selective lighting techniques and then compositing in Photoshop. It is
also the same approach when I
use the term: Hide-A-Light. Placing a light in a scene to create a
lighting effect than hiding the
light using Photoshop.
Here is a short and simple example:
This is a hotel room captured
while shooting a hotel, much of
which is later in this lesson. This
is the base exposure for the
room. Lots of window light coming in and and some strobes.
All photos and text Charlie Borland, all rights reserved worldwide. No form of reproduction or usage - including copying, altering, or saving of digital image and text files - is permitted without the
express written permission of Charlie Borland
Page 02
I have a light placed to the right of the camera next to the cabinet and pointed at the floor and end of
the bed. You can see a reflection in the armoire and the corner of the light stand. On the other side of
the cabinet is another raw light with diffusion pointed at the couch and you can see the shadows on
the wall. A third light is on the floor at the head of the bed to skim light along the bottom of the bed.
The fourth light is the fill umbrella over the camera.
Page 03
I bracketed my shutter speed here again to get a darker window. Now that all the lighting was done
and exposure set, I had one problem and it was the side of the armoire. Besides the reflections it was
dark and there was nowhere to put a light to brighten it up. Now was time for the Disappearing Light,
aka Hide-a-light.
Page 04
So I had my assistant move one light

close to the bed and position it to
bounce off the ceiling and the next
image shows how nicely lit that is
now (below).
Page 05
Now it's Photoshop time.
I opened the base image in PS and drag over the window exposure and the cabinet exposure.
Page 06
I select the window using the Polygonal Lasso Tool and then add a layer mask to the window exposure
and this makes the outside window show well.
Page 07
Then I add a layer mask to Layer 2, add a mask, and paint over the cabinet to reveal the lighter colored side and also lighten the carpet at the same time.
Page 08
After the lens correction tool, the completed

image.
This is the key technique. You place a light in your scene to light a specific area. Then you
use Hide-All masks to reveal, by painting on the mask, the effect of that light but not the
light itself. Think about this further and you can see how you can do this technique even
with a flash and i'll show you that coming up.
Page 09
So lets look at another image one more time to make sure it all makes sense. Below on the left is the
before and after. On the left image there is window light coming in directly and creating shadows and
that works well. There is an umbrella left, squeezed against the wall to add fill coming on the backs of
the chair and room overall. The camera is in the doorway. The right image is the finished image. The
shelves on the left of the cabinet are brighter. The wall above is brighter, the carpet on the right is
brighter. The window outside is brighter.
First, I bracketed my
exposures for the window and inside light
as well. I had to
choose the left exposure as my base image to keep the direct
sun coming through
the windows from being to hot so the exterior exposure is to
dark and I replaced
the windows.
Page 10
To solve the inside issues with the cabinets and floor, I shot two images with strobes: the left shows filling in the cabinet dark holes and the right shows brightening the carpet. ends up being to dark and I
fix that next. Then I replaced the windows using the same techniques shown previously.
Page 11
Using the Quick Selection

Tool I grab inside the windows. The selection as
usual is not perfect so I use
the Polygonal Lasso tool to
perfect the selection. When
I select the ADD LAYER
MASK icon at the bottom of
the layers palette, it turns
the selection into a mask for
the window. Then with the
mask selected, I go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian and blur
it 3 pixels and that softens
the mask edges.
Page 12
Heres what the mask looks

like.
Page 13
Next I add the first umbrella

image to the stack of layers,
and add a hide-all mask.
Selecting the brush tool and
making white the foreground color, I brush over
the cabinets and he wall
above to brighten them.
Page 14
Here is what the mask looks

like: heavy to brighten the
inside of the cubby holes
and 30% opacity on the outside of the cabinet and
walls.
Page 15
.
Here you can see the
brighter cabinet.
Page 16
I used the same technique:

added a hide-all layer mask
and brightened only the
floor which means me and
the umbrella dont show up.
This is hide-a-flash or selective lighting with masks or

you can call it what you
want. Place lights wherever
you need them and shoot
away. The stack all layers in
Photoshop and add black
masks, then paint on the
black mask with white to reveal only the lighted areas
the image needed. Now
well look at a home and
how all these same techniques are applied.

34 Selective Lighting

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Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Lighting for Photoshop

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

So I had my assistant move one light

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Now it's Photoshop time.

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

After the lens correction tool, the completed

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Using the Quick Selection

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Heres what the mask looks

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Next I add the first umbrella

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Here is what the mask looks

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

Photography For Architecture and Real Estate

I used the same technique:

This is hide-a-flash or selective lighting with masks or

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