The Lightroom Masks Challenge

It wasn’t that long ago that Lightroom’s only masking tools were the Brush, Radial Gradient and Linear Gradient. Fast forward to today and the changes powered by the new AI based masking tools have been profound. Many photographers now do most of their developing in the masks panel.

The exciting thing about this change is that you can develop your photos in ways what weren’t possible before. You can go back to your older photos and re-develop them in new ways.

That’s where the Lightroom masks challenge comes in:

1. Pick two older photos that you developed before Lightroom’s new masking tools were available.

2. Make Virtual Copies.

3. Develop them using the new AI powered masking tools.

This challenge works best when you pick two of your best photos. Masking isn’t a tool for rescuing bad photos. It’s a tool for realizing the potential of your best images. This challenge helps you appreciate the power of Lightroom’s newest tools.

The simplified mask based workflow

Masking can also simplify the way you work in Lightroom. My simplified Lightroom Classic workflow goes like this.

1. Make technical adjustments, if needed. These include applying lens corrections, chromatic aberration removal, using the Transform panel and cropping.

2. Make Basic panel adjustments. The important ones are White Balance and Profile, as these set your photo’s color and tonality. You may also need to adjust the tone sliders. A good approach is to adjust Exposure (if needed). Then set the Whites and Blacks sliders automatically by holding the Shift key down and double-clicking the Whites and Blacks labels. This handy shortcut gives you a base to work on. If you don’t like the result you can set the Whites and Blacks sliders manually.

3. Go to the Masks panel and create masks to apply local adjustments. This is where the magic happens, and you can transform your photos using the techniques explored in my book Mastering Masks.

4. Use the Tone Curve, Color Mixer or Color Grading panels to adjust colors. This step is optional. Ignore these panels if they confuse you.

Lightroom masks challenge example #1: Durdle door

Now I’m going to give you two examples, using my own photos. In both cases I’ll show you how I developed the photo with the old masking tools, then how I developed them using the new ones. I’ve added both to Adobe Community, so you can see the settings used remix them.

Here’s the first photo. This is how I developed it before Adobe added the Masks panel.

And this is how I developed it using the Masks panel.

The newer version has more detail and color in the sky. I also made the rock stack darker so the photo looks more natural. I made the photo at dusk, and I wanted the photo to reflect the mood.

Step 1: Basic panel adjustments

I didn’t need to make any technical adjustments to this photo, so I went straight to the Basic panel. I selected the Adobe Vivid profile (it’s great for landscapes) and set a warm white balance to counter the natural deep blue color of the light at dusk. This is what the photo looked like at this stage.

Step 2: The masks panel

These are the masks I used to apply local adjustments to the photo.

First, I went to Select Landscapes and created Sky, Mountains and Water masks. This photo doesn’t have mountains in it so it’s interesting that Lightroom’s AI thought it did.

Here’s the sky mask. I moved the Highlights slider left to darken the sky a little.

This is the water mask. I moved the Clarity slider right to bring out the textures in the water.

And this is the Mountains mask. I moved the Clarity slider right to bring out texture. Then I moved the Highlights and Shadows sliders left to darken it. I also moved the Contrast slider left to remove contrast added by the Clarity adjustment.

To finish, I created two Radial Gradient masks. The second was an inverted duplicate of the first.

This is the first Radial Gradient mask. I used this mask to brighten and soften the sky in the top right of the photo, which is where the light is coming from. To soften it, I moved the Contrast, Clarity and Dehaze sliders left. Then I brightened it by moving the Highlights and Shadows sliders right.

This is the second Radial Gradient mask. I used this mask to make tonal adjustments to the rest of the photo. I moved the Shadows slider right and the Highlights slider left to reduce the contrast.

So you can see the result, here’s the before photo again, with no masks or local adjustments.

And here’s the photo after using masks and local adjustments.

Click or tap here to see this photo on Adobe Community. You can see the masks I used, the settings I applied, download the settings used as a Develop Preset or remix the photo.

Lightroom masks challenge example #2: Island Bay

Here’s the second photo. This is how I originally developed it.

This is how I developed it using the Masks panel. My goal was to use some of the new tools, like intersecting masks, to apply local adjustments in a subtle, natural way.

Step 1: Basic panel adjustments

To start, I went to the Basic panel and selected the Camera Velvia profile. This profile emulates the Velvia profile in my Fujifilm cameras. I set a warm White Balance to emulate the warm light from the sunset. This is what the photo looked like after this step, and before making local adjustments using masks.

Step 2: The masks panel

These are the masks I used to apply local adjustments to the photo.

First, I went to Select Landscapes and created a Water mask and a Mountains mask. Just like the first photo, this one has no mountains, but Lightroom found some anyway.

Here’s the Water mask. I moved the Clarity slider left to remove texture from the water and make it smoother. This is something I didn’t do in the original version of the photo.

This is the Mountains mask. As you can see, it turned out to be a useful way of masking the stone jetty in the foreground along with the island and distant cliffs.

I wanted to apply Clarity to the masked area to emphasize the textures of the jetty. In the original photo I used the Brush to mask the jetty and applied Clarity. This time I wanted to apply Clarity the same way, but in a graduated way so that the effect tapered off near the horizon. This gave a more natural result.

I did it by intersecting the Mountains mask with a Linear Gradient. Here’s the Linear Gradient mask.

Here is the final, intersected mask. Any local adjustment I applied using this mask would fade into the distance. I moved the Clarity slider right to emphasize texture, and the Shadows slider right to reduce contrast.

This is what it looked like in the Masks panel.

If you’re not sure how intersecting masks works then my article How To Intersect Masks In Lightroom Classic will help.

Next, I added a Radial Gradient to the sky to create a glow effect. This is the same technique I used in the first photo. Here’s the mask. It’s a subtle effect. I moved the Dehaze slider left slightly to soften the masked area. Then I moved the Exposure and Blacks sliders right a little to brighten it. Next I moved the Temp slider right to warm up the colors and add mood.

Here’s the before photo again, with no masks or local adjustments.

And here’s the photo after using masks and local adjustments.

Click or tap here to see this photo on Adobe Community. You can see the masks and settings and Remix the photo.

Conclusion

The reason I’ve shared these examples with you today is to encourage you to go back through your older photos and find some that could be improved if you develop them with Lightroom’s newest tools. Do you accept the challenge? I hope so. Feel free to post the results in the comments for other readers to see.

Mastering Masks

Lightroom’s masking tools have changed the way photographers develop photos forever. My newest ebook, Mastering Masks, teaches you how to create stunning photos using masks and local adjustments. It covers all the latest tools and techniques, and has fourteen Case Studies for you to follow. 

Click here to learn more or buy