diptych # 122 (kitchen life/sink) ~ (gasp, gasp) none
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 10:23AM 
kitchen sink ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenOn last Friday's entry, civilized ku # 2863, John Linn wrote: I looked at this for a long time and found it very interesting. I wonder how many masks you used?
my response: In a word, none.
Years ago when I was in training in the US Army, I was taught how to do things, Army wise, by the book (the book of Army Regulations). The Army had a regulation governing just about everything one might do in the Army. However, the Army powers that be realized that, in the thick of combat, getting something done might possibly mean trashing the regs and doing what one had to do get the job at hand done. Such a non-reg procedure was called a Field Expediency Method. In other words, f--k the book and just get it done.
Which reminds me of an experience with my son, The Cinemascapist. While I was away on a golf trip, I left him in charge of an ongoing job for a medical equipment manufacturer. The assignment was to construct very large scale hi-def collage images for trade show use. At the time, he was somewhat of novice, re: Photoshop and related collage making software.
Nevertheless, upon my return, he had produced a collaged image that was spot on. When I asked how he did it, I was stunned at his methodology. He had used tools and techniques which would have never in a million years occurred to me to use. In effect, since he had never even read "the book" on how to do such things, he just went ahead and created and used his own version of the Field Expediency Method. It was not necessarily the most efficient way of getting the job done but getting it done with very excellent results.
All of that written and relevant to John Linn's question, I have created my very own F.E.M., re: making corrections / adjustments to images in Photoshop, which have eliminated the need for masks. Hence, the answer, "none", to his question.
At one time I was a fervent user of masks. But, after years of clogging up my hards drives with large files which were saved to include masks and layers, I discovered that I rarely, if ever, went back to an image to make corrections / adjustments which would be possible with all of those saved masks and layers. Consequently, I stopped using masks and adjustment layers and figured out a way to do what I wanted to do without them.
Basically, what that means is that I use (gasp, gasp) destructive editing techniques instead of non-destructive techniques associated with masks and adjustment layers. The reason I can get away with this is due to the fact that, after a decade-and-a-half of mucking about in Photoshop together with many decades of printing color during the good ol' analog days, I pretty much know what I want as I proceed along the edition / processing / adjustment path. So, I through caution to the wind and walk on the high wire without a net, image processing wise.
BTW, it's also worth mentioning that, as digital files have progressed to 16 bit / 32 bit levels of digital information, for those of us who are not obsessed with pixel-level perfection, there is plenty of room to move.
FYI, my principle Photoshop tools are: curves (at times in RBG, other times in LAB color space), hue and saturation controls, plain old layers (at times using the Screen or Multiple settings), feathered selection tools, erasers, unsharp mask (sparingly and often localized), and reduce noise control (rarely). That's about it. I don't have and therefore don't use any sharpening, noise reduction, or any other external (outside of Photoshop) software.
When all of my adjustments / corrections are complete (using all or several of the aforementioned tools / techniques) I merge all of my layers, by means of the Merge Visible method, into a flattened file ready for storage and printing.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Perhaps the better question should have been, how many layers? Using selections to copy to layers (for corrections) seems kind of like masks done in a different way. And once the layers are tuned with curves and then flattened, do you delete the layers to be truly destructive? .... Of course you could always go back to your RAW file and start again, or do you delete that too?
my response: I never delete RAW files. They are always there if I want to go back and start again. Regarding how any layers - I never keep track because my tendency is to work a correction / adjustment and when I have it where I want it, I flatten that layer to the background layer and move on to the next area of concern (creating a new layer and so on until I'm done). And yes, the technique is very much like using masks.
Reader Comments (3)
Perhaps the better question should have been, how many layers? Using selections to copy to layers (for corrections) seems kind of like masks done in a different way. And once the layers are tuned with curves and then flattened, do you delete the layers to be truly destructive?
Of course you could always go back to your RAW file and start again, or do you delete that too?
Exactly my process too, Mark. I came to the very same conclusion regarding masks.
Sincerest regards, JR
Imho two factors come into play here: The most important probably is the combination of a well-thought idea of the final image together with years of experience, and then the good advice I got from Carl Weese years ago, sounding like "Don't sweat it", i.e. a mediocre image most probably won't be solved by even ten thousands of postproduction steps.