STEP BY STEP EXPOSURE BLENDING EXPLAINED

Combine two exposures with simple layer skills for the perfect blend of land and sky

01 COPY AND PASTE

Open the two images into Affinity Photo (if they’re Raw files begin by processing them to enhance either land or sky), then go to the Photo Persona. Go to the lighter image, press Cmd/ctrl+a then Cmd/ctrl+c to copy it. Switch to the other image and hit Cmd/ctrl+v to paste the frame over.

02 CHECK THE ALIGNMENT

We can use a blend mode to check that our frames line up perfectly. Go to the Layers panel, click the Blend Mode dropdown at the top and choose Difference. This makes it easier to see misalignment. Grab the Move tool then use the arrow keys to nudge the layer one way or another until it looks right.

03 SELECT THE SKY

Set the blend mode back to normal. Next, grab the Selection Brush from the toolbar and check ‘Snap to Edges’ in the tool options at the top. Paint over the sky with the tool to select the area. If the tool picks up the wrong detail, hold Alt and paint to subtract from the initial selection.

04 IMPROVE THE SELECTION

Go to Select>invert Pixel Selection so the land is selected. Hit the Refine button at the top. Increase the Border Width slider to expand the refinement along the selection edge, then paint with the Matte brush over any tricky areas, like trees or foliage. Once done, set the Output to Mask and hit Apply.

05 PERFECT THE HORIZON

The transition between land and sky will initially be too abrupt, so we can fine-tune the mask. Highlight the mask thumbnail on the layer then grab the Brush tool. Set brush Hardness 0% and Opacity 20%, then paint with white to gently reveal more bright sky along the horizon, or black to hide the brighter sky.

06 TWEAK THE TONES

Now that our shots are combined we can see the clouds in the sky look a little too dark, but we can lift them with an Adjustment Layer. Highlight the bottom layer, then click the Adjustment icon and choose Curves. Drag up on the bottom part of the line to lift the shadows, then pin back the rest of the line as shown.