Two Flash Mask

When editing pictures, you inevitably come across the topic of creating silhouetted images over time. This means to detach an object from its background so that it can be varied at will. Especially hair or filigree structures often present an enormous challenge, which cannot be solved satisfactorily with the image processing tools like lasso and magic wand. It is helpful to use masks, which can be generated e.g. in Photoshop via color channels. Another possibility is to create a mask using a double-flash technique. At short intervals, an image of the object is first taken, followed by a shot in which the background is illuminated and the object is captured as a silhouette. With short post-processing using tonal value correction, a high-contrast mask can be created from the silhouette, which can then be used as a layer mask for the silhouetted image. The results obtained in this way are of the highest quality. If an electronic flash switch is used, the intervals of the shots can be shortened considerably, so that it is also possible to release moving objects. For my work, I used the Two Flash Mask from Heiland electronic in combination with my Yongnuo Speedlite YN600EX-RT flashes. The first result is shown below. Here a simple wooden figure was used, which was cropped with the technique. As a background, a digital mountain landscape was used, which was created from Blender.