Introduction
There are times when it is impossible to capture the entire dynamic range of a scene in a single image. Recently I ran in into this problem during a short trip I made through a beautiful farming valley. I found a lovely old shed and decided to stop and photograph it. After securing permission from the landowner I reached into my car to grab my gear. It was at that moment that I realized that I didn’t have a tripod with me. Holding the camera in my hand, I dialed in the exposure for the scene. I quickly realized that the intensity of light was just outside the dynamic range of my camera. Normally if I had a tripod, I would shoot the scene several stops over and under without too much fuss. Later I could then combine the images in Photoshop using layer masks or the Merge to HDR feature. The histogram below shows the exposure of the image as I saw it.

1. In this quick tip, I am going to show you how to extend the dynamic range of a single image by processing the shot several times in Photoshop. Understanding how to extend the dynamic range of an image using layer masks has been the bread and butter of my landscape photography.
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As you can see, the exposure is slightly outside the dynamic range of my camera. The histogram is slightly blocked on both sides of the scale. Important shadow detail resides on the left side while the hightlights are located on the right side of the scale. Without a tripod, I was left to decide if I wanted to expose for the shadows (where all the little details were) and blow out the sky or expose for the brightness of the sky and allow the barn go dark. Is there way to get the best of both worlds in a single image? Sure there is! That’s what I love about digital photography (and shooting RAW images)!

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Fortunately for me, the light falling on the scene wasn’t too far outside the dynamic range of my camera. The sun was high and to my left. I kept a close eye on my in-camera histogram as I photographed the shed. Since I shoot everything in RAW, I knew I could recover a stop or two in both directions later on in processing. With this in mind, I made sure my exposure curve was as close to the center of the histogram as possible.

In this quick tip, I am going to show you how to extend the dynamic range of a single image by processing the shot several times in Photoshop. Understanding how to extend the dynamic range of an image using layer masks has been the bread and butter of my landscape photography.

Watch Your Exposure in the Field
The process starts in the field. If you know you are facing a challenging lighting situation, consider exposing for bright side of the dynamic range. It is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to recover detail in underexposed shadow areas (especially if they have gone completely black). Increased digital noise is a common byproduct of extreme attempts at recovering shadow detail in Camera Raw or Lightroom. Shooting slightly bright should help you capture subtle details in the shadows and make it easier to process later on.

Working in Photoshop or Lightroom
Once you have imported the image, open it in Camera Raw. I usually start by recovering the highlight detail. Make adjustments to the Recovery and Exposure sliders until the right portion of the histogram backs away from the right side wall. In some cases, you may not be able to recover all of the highlights of the scene. Don’t worry if you can’t recover detail in areas of the image where there are extreme reflections (such as glints reflecting off metallic objects) or bright areas of the sky (such as the sun). Once you have adjusted the overall exposure, it may be necessary to increase the Fill and Brightness sliders to brighten up the image. Adjust the brightness to suit your taste. The histogram and the highlight preview option help to give you an idea of how much detail you have recovered. To see where you are clipping detail, hover over (or click on) the little triangle located in the top right corner of the histogram in Camera Raw. This also works in Lightroom. As you hover over the triangle, red will show through in areas of the image where the highlights are clipped. Don’t worry if the image seems too dark after making your adjustments – just do what you can to recover the majority of the highlights. With this image, most of the important highlights were in the sky.

After recovering the highlights (and regaining detail in the bright areas of the image), click and hold ALT (PC) or Option (Mac) in Camera Raw. You should notice the Open Image button change to Open Copy. Select Open Copy to process a duplicate copy of the image. Camera Raw will close and the image will open up in Photoshop. Now go back to the original RAW image in Bridge and open it again. The image will open a second time in Camera Raw. Now we are ready to reprocess the image – this time for shadow detail.

Just as with the highlights you can see where you are clipping the shadow detail. Hover over the little triangle located in the top left corner of the histogram. As you hover over the triangle, blue will show through in areas of the image where the shadows are clipped. Increase the Exposure slider and decrease the Blacks slider until you have recovered the majority of the shadows. As with the highlights, adjust the Brightness and Fill settings to suit your taste. Once you have finished, open the second version of your image in Photoshop.

Bring the Two Images Together
At this point both versions of the image should be open in Photoshop. This is where the fun begins! Pick one of the images and drag it on top of the other using the Move tool (M). Click and hold the Shift key while moving the image to keep it centered. You can close the second image once it has been moved onto the base image.

For the sake of this section of the guide let’s assume that you placed the darker image (processed for the highlights) on top of the lighter one (processed for the shadows). Make sure the top layer is selected and go to Layer -> Layer Mask -> Hide All to create a black layer mask. Another way to create a black layer mask is to click the layer mask icon (located at the bottom of the layers pallet) while holding down the ALT (PC) or Option (MAC) key. While working with layer masks remember that black hides and white reveals. Since you just created a black layer mask, the top image should no longer be visible (although it’s still there).

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Using Layer Masks
There are several ways to merge the two images. Typically I grab a fuzzy white paintbrush and start painting in the shadow detail. Be sure that the black layer mask that you just created is selected before you start painting. For the image of the shed, I painted in the sky. I was careful to ever-so-slightly overlap the horizon (which separated the sky from the foreground). After roughly painting in the sky, I increased the hardness of my paintbrush (with the brush tool selected, right click anywhere on the photograph and adjust the hardness slider). With a moderately hard brush, I painted in along the roof line of the shed.

An alternative to using a paintbrush is to make a selection along the horizon and roof line and then fill it with white (to reveal the sky). Using this method still requires that you come back with a soft paintbrush to fine-tune the transition. You can turn down the opacity of the white paint brush to tone back how much is revealed (the opacity slider for the paint brush can be found at the top of the tool bar). With careful painting, it is fairly easy to create a natural transition between the two images. The key to making good transition is patience.

The Blend If Option
Another quick way to blend two images is to use the Blend If tool in the Layer Style dialogue box. With both versions of the image open in Photoshop, drag the lighter image adjusted for the shadows on top of the darker one. Next double click on the top layer to open the Layer Style box. You can also access the Layer Style dialogue box by going to Layer -> Layer Style -> Blending Options (make sure the top image is selected).

With the Layer Style box open, look for the Blend If tool (located near the bottom of the box). We are going to adjust the top slider. Grab the right triangle and gently drag it toward the center. As you move the slider, you should see the lower layer (the darker image processed for the highlights) begin to show through. Once you are fairly satisified with the results, press and hold the ALT key (PC) or the OPTION key (Mac) while pulling on the slider to fine-tune the transition between the two images. Before you select Ok, change the Blend Mode to Lighten.

Quick Note: If the darker layer is on top of the lighter one, simply move the left slider toward the center and change the Blend Mode to Darken (just the opposite).

Keep in mind that you will probably still have to use a layer mask and a soft paint brush to smooth out the transition. You can do that by creating a white layer mask and painting on the mask with a black brush.

You Did It!
You just extended the dynamic range of a single image! Now process the newly combined composite as you normally would. In this photograph I adjusted the curve (to improve the overall contrast), performed some selective dodging and burning, fine-tuned the saturation and applied a sharpening filter. Remember that this process is even easier to work through if you have more than one image. Using a tripod makes it a snap to take several photographs of the scene at varying exposures. You can combine two, three or more images together in Photoshop using layer masks.

Have Fun!
Sure it way easier to use the Merge to HDR feature in Photoshop or a third party program to extend the dynamic range of an image; however I think you can achieve a much more natural look using layer masks. Layer masks provide a huge level of control over every part of the image and let you decide what to hide and what to reveal. Be creative and have fun!

About the Author
Steve Paxton lives with his wife and two children in the Seattle area. Steve has been a photographer for over fifteen years. His experience ranges from wedding and portrait work to landscapes and crime scene photography. You can find more of Steve’s work at www.paxtonprints.com and www.paxtonportraits.com.

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1. Your article brings up a broader issue with which I have been dealing as a fledgling photographer. Your finished image, while no doubt much more attractive than the original, bears little resemblance to it. In my short time in photography it has become quickly apparent that heavily processed photos with substantial saturation and dramatic effects are all the rage. My current photos are much more straightforward and I am left with a decision as to whether I should devote the time to mastering the processing techniques that would make my pictures more artistic, but would would less accurately reflect what my eyes actually saw, or whether I should rely more on the unprocessed beauty that nature provides. In other words, at what point does photography become more about equipment and processing technique than capturing what the eye actually saw. I recognize that my comments may sound critical. That is not my intent. I am just wondering where landscape photography is headed and what my philosophy should be.

This week at Bungie, we’re investing in solar energy.

We wrapped up Festival of the Lost this week, but cleaning up the decorations wasn’t the only thing that changed in the Tower. Ikora finished her construction project, closed out all the permits, and Guardians launched an attack on the Undying Mind.

The attack is ongoing and all Season Pass holders can join in on Vex Offensive and transmat the finished portal from the Tower to summon and defeat Undying Minds from different timelines.

The impact of your victory has not been made clear just yet, but in time, you will learn more about how this will further evolve the world as we transition into the next Season.

Solar Shifts

Next Season, we are shaking up the Solar subclasses. We are reworking several ability trees and the Destiny Dev Team has the details on what to expect when you praise the Sun next season.

Destiny Dev Team: Hey Guardians, it’s the Combat Systems team here, back again to talk about some updates we’re making to the abilities sandbox in the next Season. Previously we spent a Season focusing on subclasses of one specific element type such as Arc and Void. Up next, the Combat Systems team is tackling Solar subclasses as our focus for gameplay updates.

As we’ve mentioned in past TWABs, our goal with these subclass updates is to “revisit some older subclass paths and freshen them up a bit.” In execution, this means that older subclass paths will feel like viable choices in many of our activities and that players can find a home in any of them.

When we started working on sandbox updates to follow Season of the Undying, our team looked at the whole catalog of Solar subclasses by cross referencing data, feedback, and conversation to figure out which subclasses needed help, which are performing fine, and which ones were a bit too potent. During our investigations, it was pretty clear that three specific subclasses were underperforming and needed to be taken back into the shop for a rework.

It’s worth noting here that a rework doesn’t mean it’s a completely new subclass. It means that we took the root of the gameplay fantasies for those subclasses and either expanded on what was already there or shifted some of the existing attributes closer to their fantasy. In some cases, entire perks were changed to help further the gameplay role and fantasy of those subclasses.

Those three Solar subclasses are:

Gunslinger: Way of the Sharpshooter (Bottom Path)

Traditionally, Way of the Sharpshooter has mostly been used in specific PvE activities and almost exclusively paired with the Celestial Nighthawk helm. We wanted to move Way of the Sharpshooter to be something players want to choose more often and for a wider range of activities. To do that we needed to differentiate both Golden Gun paths and make Sharpshooter more versatile and interesting to use in PvE. In order to differentiate the 3-shot and 6-shot Golden Gun and better play into their fantasies, we’ve made the following changes:

For 3-shot we increased the auto-aim distance and reliability when aiming down sights, as it fulfills the role of long range accuracy. For 6-shot, we shortened the damage falloff range to emphasize the short range gunfighter role with a lot of kill potential. While it can still perform at longer ranges, it may take an extra shot to get the job done. We’ve made other changes to Way of the Outlaw to help keep its potency like adding a new Explosive Prox Knife that can stick to surfaces and detonate when enemies pass nearby.

All up – we want Way of the Sharpshooter to feel more active and rewarding for players who can fulfill the role of the sharpshooter by taking down enemies with accuracy and precision.

NEW Weighted Knife: High-damage knife throw with a long wind up. Travels at high speeds, bounces once, and does extra damage to the head. Precision shot final blows recharge the melee completely. One-hit precision final blow in PvP.

Practice Makes Perfect: (QoL): Lasts longer but gives a bit less energy per second. Precision hits grant two stacks.

NEW Knock ’em Down: Precision final blows increase weapon stability and ADS speed. Timer starts at 10 seconds but any additional final blow/assists can increase it up to 25 seconds. Casting your Super with this buff above 20 seconds consumes the buff and grants extra damage. (Does not stack with Celestial Nighthawk).

Line ’em Up: (QoL): Old perks from Crowd Pleaser are now part of this perk. (Golden Gun can cause precision damage and precision shots generate orbs of light).

Sunbreaker: Code of the Devastator (Middle Path)

Titans who adhere to the Code of the Devastator want nothing more than to crush their foes with smoldering hammers, and we want to see them live their dreams. When our data indicated that this subclass was underperforming in PvP, we decided to make a few changes that should enable it to be more competitive.

The Roaring Flame perk has received a significant buff to its bonus damage, and the buff now lasts 25% longer, making it easier to build and retain stacks between encounters. The base damage of Throwing Hammer melee ability has increased—it’s now very lethal in PvP while you have Roaring Flames active. In addition, once you’ve thrown the hammer and it’s lying on the ground, you don’t have to get quite as close to it to pick it back up. Finally, we tuned the Super in a number of ways.

For starters, Burning Maul now lasts longer, giving you more time to use it strategically instead of simply spamming the slam button. (Titans. All we want to do is smash, right?) We also increased the height of the heavy-slam explosion, so this Super should feel much more potent against airborne enemies. That’s the gist of it, but here are more details:

Throwing Hammer: Increased impact damage from 100 to 120 and increased hammer pick-up radius from 2m to 3.5m. Adjusted hammer throw animations to fit a more damaging attack.

Roaring Flames: Increased damage bonus from 10% per stack to 25% per stack in PvP, and increased duration from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.

Burning Maul: Increased duration from 21.2 seconds to 28.5 seconds

• Light Attack: Reduced light attack energy cost from 5% to 3%. Adjusted the animation so that it flows seamlessly into chained light attacks without stopping.
• Heavy Attack: Ground Slam attack now detonates when it detects enemies above it. Detonation radius was increased to make landing attacks more consistent. Increased energy cost from 6% to 8%.

Dawnblade: Attunement of Sky (Top Path)

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With Attunement of Sky we wanted to push its air superiority gameplay further. When we initially released this path, its movement capabilities were tuned around the original Destiny 2 gameplay experience, which was much slower and more deliberate about positioning. However, over time, this movement needed to adapt to the new sandbox. We want to give you the gameplay experience that the fantasy begs for: A flying angel who can maneuver with grace and destroy its foes below.

Now before we get started I wanted to touch on one thing: To accomplish our goals of reworking the air superiority role, we needed to differentiate the two Daybreak paths from one another. As such, we reduced the speed at which Burst Glide accelerates players in Daybreak. We know this is a controversial change but we wanted to reserve the air superiority gameplay with Attunement of Sky and the Burst Glide speed was blurring the lines between both Daybreak paths.

Icarus Dashes while in Daybreak have increased speed and thrust to recapture the burst glide gameplay for those running the air superiority path. We hope that, while this change is different, you still feel as fast as before—but with maybe a bit more expression behind that speed. The rest of the changes are below:

NEW Celestial Fire (Melee): Send a spiral of three explosive Solar projectiles.

Heat Rises: (Rework) Consume your grenade to extend Glide time and dramatically reduce the in-air accuracy penalties for weapons.

Winged Sun (Rework): Fire weapons, use Celestial Fire, and throw grenade while gliding. Airborne final blows grant melee energy and extend the duration of Heat Rises.

Icarus Dash (Rework): Tap (Crouch) twice to dodge in midair. Dodging in Daybreak accelerates players farther and costs less Super energy while under the effects of Heat Rises.

Added note: Due to the nature of these reworks, Wings of Sacred Dawn received a buff where it gains 15% damage resistance while Tome of Dawn is active.

There are a whole swath of changes we’re working on that extend beyond these three subclasses. Most Solar subclasses had some tuning and some non-Solar subclasses got a bit QoL love too. We hope that with these changes, you’ll feel energized playing any Solar subclass—regardless of activity. Thanks for having us!

Final Howl

Next week, Lord Saladin will return to the Tower for the final time during Season of Undying. This will be your final shot at earning pinnacle rewards from Iron Banner until next Season. If you haven’t finished up your Season Pursuit, make sure to do it before the end of the event on December 3.

Iron Banner Control

Starts: 9:00 a.m. PT on November 26

Ends: 9:00 a.m. PT on December 3

We’ll be featuring a reprised armor set next season, so if you still want to get some pieces from this set, grab them quick! Saladin is also offering enhanced mods and other items in exchange for Iron Banner tokens you may have collected. You can turn them in now or bank them for when Iron Banner returns next Season.

Gaming and Giving

We’re completely blown away by the generosity you all showed throughout the Game2Give fundraising campaign in support of the Bungie Foundation’s iPads for Kids Program and of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

In just three weeks, you all raised $1,673,857.62! We reached this incredible amount of funding because of the 40,000+ donors and 5,500 streamers who supported the campaign across 104 countries. To say this was a true global Guardian initiative is an understatement!

For the Bungie Foundation, this will give us the capacity to expand into up to five new hospitals in 2020 and help over 250,000 more patients than we ever have before! We are so excited to continue our work of replacing fear with joy, boredom with entertainment, and uncertainty with a sense of normalcy for so many more kiddos.

And check out how this funding will help the work that Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals does every day.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for showing us once again how truly special the Bungie Community is through caring about each other and those in need.

Wanna Cook?

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For those looking to add more Destiny books to their collection, we are very happy to announce Destiny: The Official Cookbook and Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three are coming in 2020.

In collaboration with Insight Editions and author Victoria Rosenthal, Destiny’s first official cookbook is filled with recipes inspired by the characters and locations seen throughout its expansive universe.

Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three is coming in late 2020 as the next edition of the popular Grimoire series.

These titles will be available at the Bungie Store and other booksellers. Stay tuned for more details. Be sure to visit the Bungie Store product pages linked above and click “Email When Available” to be among the first to know when the books are open for pre-order.

Tip of the Spear

Stay up to date on the latest from the Player Support team.

This is their report.

Destiny 2 on Stadia

New players who are starting their Destiny 2 journey with Stadia can also enable Cross Save, so the Guardians they build and gear they earn travels with them to other platforms. However, players should know that Season Pass access granted on Stadia through Destiny 2: The Collectiondoes not transfer to other platforms using Cross Save.

Destiny 2: The Collection on Stadia includes a Season Pass access at no additional charge. Players who have Cross Save enabled with their Stadia account who would like to access Seasonal content on other platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam) will need to purchase those Season Passes directly on one of those platforms.

As a final reminder, expansion licenses (Forsaken, Shadowkeep) do not transfer between platforms with Cross Save. Players who wish to access activities which rely on these expansion licenses will need to purchase them for every desired platform.

PC Migration and Forsaken Licenses

Since Destiny 2 launched on Steam last month, we’ve monitored posts from players who have provided feedback and reported issues regarding the PC Migration experience.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

Listed below are emergent issues being investigated in Destiny 2.

• The MIDA Multi-Tool catalyst will not drop for players who win a competitive Crucible match at the Legend rank if they are playing with clan mates and the “Catalyst Seeker” clan rank bonus is active. To mitigate this, we recommend that players seeking the catalyst play solo or team up with friends who are not in the same clan.
• Black Armory Keys cannot be used or deleted if the Mysterious Box quest has already been completed.
• Some players may experience an issue where blank items from Festival of the Lost are taking up slots at their Postmaster.

Act III

Movie of the Week: Punch Stuff

Honorable Mention: Gunslinger

Next week is a short week for us with some US holidays. Good news is that means an early TWAB. DMG is already working on a short update next Tuesday. We’ll see you then.

<3 Cozmo