Zone System Plugin For Photoshop in ADP LumiFlow

The Heat Map Zone System Plugin for Photoshop built into the ADP LumiFlow Luminosity Plugin provides a unique and powerful way of visualising and creating a mask in any tonal zone. Using the heat map zone system allows an unlimited variation of tonal selection in your images through either hard line or luminosity selections.

The Heat Map Zone System Plugin For Photoshop

The heat map panel is built into three sections, and works from the top down making it easy to navigate.

Heat Map Zone Selections

The top section is where you make your luminosity or hard line selections.

Adjust Your Mask

In the middle section is where you can further adjust your mask.

Choose How To Use

In the bottom section is where you can choose from one of the many options for using your luminosity masks.

Making Selections With the Tonal Heat Map

What makes the Zone System Plugin for Photoshop is a unique method of creating and selecting luminosity masks is the colour overlay on your image that represents an 11 zone system This system breaks down the tones in your image across 11 separate zones from your shadows through to the highlights in the image.

Each of the 11 zones is represented by a specific colour on the heat map. Looking at the heat map panel, you will find buttons that match the colours of the heat map overlaid on your image.

There are two methods of making selections:

Luminosity (Feathered Selections)

This method uses the full power of Luminosity creation. With feathered transitions on the edges of the selections, allowing for much smoother adjustments.

Hard Edge Zone Selections

This method is a hard line selection of a zone, with no feathering. There may be a use for this method of selection from time to time. If you use them you may want to consider a slight blur or feathering of your mask in your layers.

You can make any zone or multiple zone selection that you desire. There is no limit on the combination of selections and this is what makes the Heat Map such a powerful tool. You no longer need to wonder which mask you require or spend time modifying your masks to select the zone you’re interested in. The Heat Map Plugin is visual and intuitive.

Clear Selection

If you have made an error in your selection, or just want to clear the currently selection to load a new one, this button will clear an existing selection.

Show Heat Map

If you want to switch to a view of your image, the Hide Heat Map button will turn off the heat map showing you your image. You can also turn off the heat map in your layers.

Hide Heat Map

If you want to turn the heat map on to make another selection this button will make the heat map active. You can also turn on the heat in your layers.

Adjust Your Tonal Selections

Even though the zone system selections give you unprecedented control over making luminosity selections, there will still be times when you need to make modifications to your selection. This section gives you many powerful adjustment tools to tailor your mask for your requirements.

Show: This button will reveal your selection in black and white showing you the luminosity selection.

Add: If you want to add any additional tonal areas to your selection, this button will load your current selection so you can add additional tonal zones.

Restrict and Expand 5 & 10%: Restrict & Expand the tonal selection by 5 or 10%

Darken Blacks & Lighten Whites 5 & 10%: This will darken the darks or lighten the whites in your mask by 5 & 10%.

Dodge: Dodge the highlights in your mask.

Burn: Burn the shadows in your mask.

White & Black Brush: Use these to paint directly on your mask.

Step Forward & Step Back: Undo any adjustments you have made.

Viewing Options: Zoom full screen, zoom 100%, zoom in & zoom out.

Blur: This will soften the edges of your mask, the preferred method is to use the Feather slider in your layers mask properties.

Refine: Use shadows, highlights and midtone sliders for fine control in the mask.

Levels: The most common way to adjust a mask, use the levels adjustment to control the tonal range from darks, midtones and lights.

Curves: Another common and powerful method to adjust your mask, provides additional control over levels and choose tones directly from your image to adjust your mask.

Brightness & Contrast: The contrast slider is the most useful here allowing further darkening of blacks and lightening of the lights in your mask.

Invert: This will invert your mask, inverting the whites and the blacks.

Choose How To Use Your Mask

After you have completed selecting and modifying your mask there are many options for how you can use your mask in your image.

Dodge & Burn

You can choose to use your mask on a dodge or burn layer. Firstly, select the type of Dodge & Burn layer you want to use then choose to Dodge or Burn:

Transparent Layer: This type of layer will allow you to work on a Transparent layer. This means that you can use colour while dodging or burning to enhance colour. Note colour is effected in your image when dodging and burning on a transparent layer.
Middle Grey Layer: This is also a transparent layer filled with 50% grey. This works in the same way as the transparent layer. When you paint with a colour darker then 50% grey it will darken and when you paint with a colour lighter then middle grey it will lighten.
Curves: This method will use your mask selection and darken or lighten depending on whether you choose burn or dodge. The blending mode of the curves layer is changed to luminosity so colour is not effected. Then using a white brush on the group layer, you can reveal the dodging or burning. The underlying mask controls the tones effected.

Adjustment Layers

You have 10 adjustment layer options including:

Brightness & Contrast, Levels, Curves, Exposure, Vibrance, Hue & Saturation, Selective Color, Solid Color, Photo Filter & Color Balance.

The mask you have created will automatically be applied to the mask of your adjustment layer.

B&W Image

One of the great new additions to ADP LumiFlow is the power in working with black and white images. This button will create an image layer in black and white based on your mask.

Masked Groups

Often when we create masks and make adjustments the mask is effecting areas of our image that we don’t want effected. Using the group masking tools, you can restrict adjustments to only the areas you want effected.

Group Selection: Make a selection of the area of the image you want effected and press this button and it will restrict your adjustment to that area.
Feather Selection: Make a selection of the area of the image you want effected and press this button and it will restrict your adjustment to that area and feather the edges of your selection for smoother transitions.
Black Group: This will place your adjustment into a group with a black mask, hiding the adjustment. Then use a white brush to reveal the areas of the adjustment you want effected.
White Group: This will place your selection into a group with a white mask. Then use a black brush to hide the areas of the adjustment that you don’t want.