ACR Masking
The Masking feature in Adobe Camera Raw is so effective and easy to use that I have been shooting more backlit situations than ever before. That is saying something. Keep reading to see the magic.
BTW
My very favorite Bob Eastman SEO image in the blog post here was #4: Short-eared Owl on perch with vole. Same at Pat Fishburne’s top pick.
What’s Up?
My morning photo sessions at ILE have been up and down. I’ve had some great Sandhill Crane mornings, some fabulous Turkey Vulture mornings, and some wonderful Cattle Egret outings. Friday morning was a near dud with a heavy mist and the air and a breeze from the southwest. That is, until I saved the day by making two very nice images of an adult Bald Eagle in flight with the bare handheld 300mm f/2.8 GM lens. The complete image optimization for the best of those will be one of the six detailed in Volume IV of the Digital Basics IV Video Series that I will be creating this week.
Today is Sunday 21 December. My how time is flying by. I will be heading down to the lake early. The forecast is calling for partly cloudy at 7am becoming sunny by 8am with a soft breeze from the northeast. The problem with this recently common forecast is that one day will dawn completely sunny while the next might be totally cloudy and overcast until noon. That is why I try to get to the lakeshore at least ten minutes before the time of sunrise. This afternoon will be spent watching various NFL games and the NCAA Women’s College Volleyball National Championship game — Texas A&M against Kentucky. A&M’s victories over previously undefeated Nebraska and then highly favored Pitt have been heart-stopping and inspiring. I am rooting for them. The end of the fourth set and the final fifth set in the A&M/Nebraska game was one of the greatest, most competitive sporting events I have ever witnessed. Think I’m exaggerating? Watch the ending here. Whatever you opt to do, I hope that you too choose to have a wonderful and productive day and that you have fun too. Do remember that happiness is a choice — Byron Katie, The Work.Com.
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This image was created on 17 December 2025 by yours truly on the South Peninsula down by the lakeshore near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated in the driver’s seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1250: 1/1500 second at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was 1/6 stop short of perfect. AWB at 7:45:47am on a sunny morning. Tracking Spot XS/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1: the original capture for the Cattle Egret backlit/preening image |
On Exposing to the Right
One of the tricks with backlit images (other than silhouettes) is to expose as far to the right as possible to render the detail on the shadowed side of the subject. As I was a bit worried about over-exposing the rimlit highlights on the white feathers of the bird’s back, I wound up technically under-exposed just a bit. Note that the original capture looks washed out and flat with very little contrast and gray whites. ACR masking to the rescue.
Horizontal or Vertical?
When working this situation I shot both horizontals and originals I moved my SUV to get what I thought was the prettiest background — some small, frilly bushes lit from be– of course, that I was still shooting horizontals). I did not dare attempt to go back to horizontal as I was scared of missing the magical moment when I had a decent look at the bird’s face.
Tips and Tricks
Note also that to maximize the backlit effect I moved the SUV so that the sun was directly above the subject.
When using a super-telephoto lens on a BLUBB you must make sure that Direct Manual Focus (DMF) is set to OFF so that you do not inadvertently throw off the focus.
The trick now was to bring the washed out, too dark subject to life. Scroll down to see the optimized version.
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This image was created on 17 December 2025 by yours truly down on the South Peninsula down by the lakeshore near my home at Indian Lake Estates, FL. Seated in the driver’s seat of my SUV, I used the BLUBB-supported Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 2x Teleconverter and The Latest Greatest Sony Flagship Body, the a1 II Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined using Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Wheel. ISO 1250: 1/1500 second at f/8 (wide open) in Manual mode. RawDigger showed that the exposure was dead solid perfect. AWB at 7:45:47am on a sunny morning. Tracking Spot XS/AF-C with Bird-Eye/Face Detection performed perfectly. Click on the image to enjoy the high-res version. Image #1A: The optimized version of the Cattle Egret backlit/preening image |
ACR Masking Magic
I was easily able to bring the image to life using a series of masks in Adobe Camera Raw. I used several masks to bring up the whites, two more for the eye doctor work, and a final mask to brighten the top of the bird’s head.
The relatively new masking feature in Adobe Camera Raw (in both Photoshop and Lightroom) allows making changes to the subject and or the background alone easy as pie. In Volume III of the Digital Basics IV Video Series. I introduced and discussed a variety of ACR mask selection options including Subject, Background, Sky, Brush, and Linear Gradient. In the last two volumes I will cover creating Radial Gradient, Object (beyond amazing!), and both Color Range and Luminance Range masks. I have selected the six images for Volume IV and will create that video early this week. The complete optimization of today’s featured image will be detailed in Volume IV.
The more I use and experiment with the Masking feature in ACR the more neat tricks I come up with.
Typos
With all blog posts, feel free to e-mail or to leave a comment regarding any typos or errors.
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