Contrast Masking

Out of The Wet Darkroom
The December, 2000 issue ofPCPhotomagazine had an article byRichard PahlcalledDigital Contrast Masking.It describes how to use a technique that experience darkroom workers have used for ages and has brought it into the Photoshop age. Thanks Richard.
I was excited to see this technique brought up-to-date because though its use in the wet darkroom was tedious at best, in the dry darkroom it's simple, quick and even more effective. It now forms part of my Photoshop repertoire and I have adapted it to my own way of working.
  Figure 1
The screen shot above shows a photograph taken inAntelope Canyonin 1998. This photograph was part of myPhoto TechniquemagazineFeatured Portfolioin the Fall of 2000 and I sold a large number of prints of it. It also happens to be one of my most difficult to print images. While I have used numerous techniques to tame it, the masking technique detailed here is the one that produces the highest quality results.
The challenge of this...