Greg Benz has just updated one of my favorite Photoshop tools, the Lumenzia luminosity masking panel. Lumenzia is enough better than the home-grown concoction I created that I've abandoned my own work.
This isn't a small update, as it features over 170 new features, changes, and bug fixes to the previous 8.5.1 version. Lumenzia also isn't a "just install and use" type of product. Nor is it an AI product that "just does things without user interaction." Lumenzia is one of the geekiest tools in my arsenal, and I've got a number of geeky tools I use. Thus, for someone just starting out with it, I'd tend to recommend that you get Greg's Exposure Blending Master Course along with the tool itself. Greg's an excellent instructor, and his video tutorials will help you understand how you use Lumenzia to its fullest.
Lumenzia sells for US$40 (updates have been free), and Lumenzia with the Exposure Blending Master Class is currently US$99. An additional Dodging & Burning Master Class can be bundled with the former two for a total of US$197, which I'd consider money well spent for someone who's deep into layering and blending within Photoshop.
