First, to post a link, go to the web page with the information you want to share. Then, highlight the address of the web page in the address bar: with Internet Explorer 6.0 all I have to do is left click on the address and it gets highlighted. If that doesn’t work, I can also left click and drag over the address to highlight it. After the address is highlighted, right click somewhere on the highlighted part and select Copy from the pop up menu. Finally, in your post at dpreview, right click on a blank line, and choose Paste from the pop up menu. The forum software does the rest, and it will automatically convert the address you pasted to a link. Before submitting your post, it's good practice to always Preview your post and click on the link to see if it takes you to the page you intended .

Dave Jaseck wrote:
> 1. Make duplicate layer
> 2. Image>adjustment>desaturate
> 3. Image>adustment>invert
> 4. Filter>blur>gaussian (anywhere from 5 to 25 pixels)
> 5. Change blend mode to either overlay or softlight dependiing on
> your image
> 6. Throttle back opacity for the desired effect (anywhere from 20
> to 50%)

The key to understanding the contrast masking steps above is knowing what the Overlay blend mode does. If you have never used the Overlay blend mode before, then you should experiment with it. Open an image and create a blank layer above the image. Change the blend mode of the blank layer to Overlay. Then, choose a soft brush and paint with black over highlights in your image. Play with the opacity of the brush and the opacity of the blank layer to lessen the effect. Now, switch colors to white, and paint over the shadows in your image. Also, switch to the Eraser tool, and trying erasing over parts that you painted to return them to their original state. After a bit of fooling around, you should see that painting with black darkens the image, which is also called "burning", and painting with white lightens the image, which is also called "dodging".

Ok, with your new found knowledge, the steps should be fairly easy to understand:

> 1. Make duplicate layer
Preserves the original background layer in case you need to start over.

> 2. Image>adjustment>desaturate
Turns the image to black and white. To understand this step requires some anticipation. Your experiments above taught you that black and white can be used to lighten and darken the image.

> 3. Image>adustment>invert
Turns dark areas into white areas. Once again, with some anticipation, you should realize that if you apply white to dark areas in your original image with the Overlay blend mode, you can brighten them.

> 4. Filter>blur>gaussian (anywhere from 5 to 25 pixels)
Smooths the transitions between light and dark areas.

> 5. Change blend mode to either overlay or softlight dependiing on
> your image

Changing the blend mode to Overlay applies whites to dark areas and blacks to light areas--just like when you used a brush to paint with white and black while you were experimenting. Note: applying 50% gray in Overlay mode has no affect on the image. The Soft Light blend mode works much like Overlay, and sometimes can provide a more pleasing look.

The same effect produced by Contrast masking could be produced by hand using a soft brush and painting with black and white on a blank layer using the Overlay blend mode. However, the Contrast masking technique produces the result without all the tedium of painting by hand, and the contrast inherent in the image provides smooth blending of the whites and the blacks you apply to the image.