Let me start off by saying I am very new to the world of digital imaging. I am working through Richard's wonderful book and following along with each exercise in order to gain a full understanding of the whys and hows. In chapter 3 he isolates the shadows in an image by converting a luminosity layer into a mask. During the procedure he creates an empty, transparent layer and then merges the (modified) luminosity layer on to it to create the mask. I'm trying to determine why this step is necessary other than the fact it doesn't work otherwise. Why wouldn't the luminosity layer, which had already been modified to include the requisite transparent areas, suffice as a mask without the need for merging with a blank layer. The engineer in me needs to know to foster my understanding. Forgive the long post, but I couldn't find a more concise way to ask.
Thanks in advance,
Jeff
Thanks in advance,
Jeff
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