Blended to perfection

James Paterson utilizes exposure blending skills in Serif’s Affinity Photo for superbly balanced landscape images

- James Paterson

When it comes to landscape photography, sometimes a single exposure simply isn’t enough. In high-contrast scenes the difference in brightness between land and sky can make it near-impossible to capture fine detail in one frame, which could mean sacrificing shadow detail to preserve the highlights, or capturing shadow detail while blowing the sky. It’s often a problem encountered at sunset, as when shooting towards the brightest and most vibrant part of the sky and the land in front can appear almost black. Thankfully, by varying our exposure across a couple of frames (taken using a tripod to keep them in alignment) we can capture the optimum amount of detail and then blend our photographs afterwards.

In this project we’ll show you how to blend your exposures in Affinity Photo for enhanced landscape photos. Exposure blending is similar in principle to HDR photography in that the aim is to expand our dynamic range beyond the limits of our camera. But HDR is a blanket approach to the problem. With exposure blending we can control exactly which parts of each image to use in our composite image. As such, we have ultimate control over the final results.

The technique is done by using a combination of layers and masks in Affinity Photo. We can paint the masks, or use selection tools to help us out by isolating areas of the frame. As well as combining exposures these fundamental image-editing tools can be used for a huge array of other tasks, from practical jobs like focus stacking to creative montages and composites.

THE MISSION

Learn how to blend exposures of land and sky to come up with a balanced landscape in Affinity Photo

Time needed 15 minutes

Skill level Beginner

Kit needed Affinity Photo