one useful feature present in photoshop and PSP seems to be missing in PhotoLine, the "blend if" options or the "blend range". These layer settings allow one to determine which brightness-ranges of two layers should be combined into the resulting image. The attached action (below) simulates these tools and allows to set the blend-range (for the upper layer only). Tutorials on how to make use of it can be found by googleing for example "blend if" and "PSP blend range" (e.g. http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Blending-in-Photoshop or http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/bend-if/blend-if.htm or http://www.photoshopsupport.com/photosh ... ption.html). This action actually creates and uses a luminosity mask.
some short how-to's:
1. duplicate the original image layer and apply the desired modifications ( coloring, sharpening, contrast, etc..)
2. select the duplicated layer and run the "Blend-Range" action
3. By default the resulting mask-layer-set does blend only the mid-tones with the bottom layer
4. The blend range can be quickly changed by double-clicking and modifying the "false-color" working layer of the generated layer set. Luminosity ranges set to white false colors will be fully blended while ranges set to black will be excluded. Grey regions enable smooth transitions.
An image demo-ing the principle idea of the blend range effect:
It would be great if anybody would have an idea on how to incorporate the luminosity of the underlying layer into the equation.
