Masking tool

The controls in the Adjustment panels in the Develop module let you affect the color and tone of an entire photo. But sometimes, you don't want to make adjustments globally to the entire photo. You want to make corrections to a specific area of a photo. For example, you may want to lighten a face to make it stand out in a portrait or enhance the blue sky in a landscape. To make local corrections in Lightroom Classic, you can apply color and tonal adjustments using the Masking tool.

As with all other adjustments applied in the Develop module in Lightroom Classic, adjustments made using the Masking tool are non-destructive and are not permanently applied to the photo. 

Create mask

There are multiple options within Lightroom Classic to add a mask to your image. You can use Select Subject, Select Sky, Select Background, Objects, or People to automatically add a mask or use Brush, Linear Gradient, Radial Gradient, or Range Masks to add a mask manually.

Select Subject

Select Subject allows you to automatically select the subject in the photo and apply specific edits.

Select Sky

Select Sky allows you to automatically select the sky in your photo and apply specific edits.

Select Background

Select Background allows you to automatically select the background in your photo and apply specific edits.

Select Objects

Select Objects provides tools for masking objects and allows you to automatically select the object by brushing or drawing over the object area in your photo and apply specific edits.

Select People

Select People allows you to automatically select one or more people in your photo and apply specific edits.

Add to mask

Once you have created a mask, you can further add areas to the selection using any of the masking tools. To add to an existing mask, do the following:

Subtract from mask

Once you have created a mask, you can erase areas of the automatic selection using any of the masking tools. To subtract from an existing mask, do the following:

Masks panel

Once you have created a mask using one of the masking tools, you can further refine the selection using the Masks panel. 

You can drag and drop the Masks panel to dock or undock it from the panel. You can also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) on the Masks panel header and select Dock to panel or Undock from panel.

You can also drag and drop a tool selection to move it within a group, to a different group, or to create a new mask. You can also press Option (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows) while dragging to create a copy of the selected tool selection instead of moving it.

The Masks panel contains the list of all the masks and the tool selections that you have made. You can perform the following actions from the masks or tool selection menu.

Starting from Lightroom Classic 11.4 (June 2022 release), badges are added in the Masks panel for easy identification of mask components.

Tone, Color, Effects, and Details can be expanded or collapsed individually for a more customized view.

Right-click on the collapsed segment of the adjustment panel to enter Solo Mode, allowing you to make adjustments one sub-panel at a time.

Adjustment panels have individual eye indicators to allow you to check which panel has an active setting quickly with just a glance. Furthermore, you can hold down the eye icon to temporarily hide the settings from the sub-panel for better visual indication.

Masks overlay

You can also change overlay options from the Masks panel.

Intersect with a Mask

To intersect an existing mask with a new mask, do the following:

Apply AI masks in batch edit

Applicable from Lightroom Classic 11.4 (June 2022 release)

Backed by Artificial Intelligence, Select Subject, Select Sky, Select Background, Select Objects, and Select People masks can now be applied to multiple photos with just a click. This works for Copy-Paste, Sync, and Auto-sync, and Copy from Previous settings.

To batch apply presets, follow these steps:

Adjustment sliders

Use the following sliders to make the desired adjustments to your selection:

Adjusts the color temperature of an area of the image, making it warmer or cooler. A graduated filter temperature effect can improve images captured in mixed-lighting conditions.

Compensates for a green or magenta color cast

Sets the overall image brightness. Applying an Exposure local correction can achieve results similar to traditional dodging and burning.

Adjusts image contrast, mainly affecting midtones

Recovers detail in overexposed highlight areas of an image

Recovers detail in underexposed shadow areas of an image

Adjusts the white points in a photo

Adjusts the black points in a photo

Smoothens or accentuates textured details in your photo. Move the slider to the left to smoothen details; move it to the right to accentuate details. When you adjust the Texture slider, the color or tonality does not change.

Adds depth to an image by increasing local contrast

Reduces or increases existing haze in a photo

Adjusts the hue in a photo. Select Use Fine Adjustment for precise adjustments.

Adjusts the vividness of the color

Enhances edge definition to bring out details in the photo. A negative value blurs details.

Reduces luminance noise, which can become apparent when shadow areas are opened.

Removes moiré artifacts, or color aliasing

Removes fringe colors along edges

Applies a tint to the area affected by the local correction. Select the hue by clicking the Color swatch. The Color effect is preserved if you convert the photo to black and white.

Under the Effects panel, use the Amount slider to add grains to the masked area of an image. Use the Roughness and Size sliders to make adjustments to the grains in an image. These settings will apply to both global and masked areas of the image.

Enables more precise management of local edits without affecting the entire image. Refine Sat. slider under Curve allows control over color saturation while using the Curve tool.

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