Local adjustments – Masking

Figure 6.40 – The Masking panel's default view

Often, we want to make some changes locally – that is, only in particular areas. We want to achieve a specific look that is impossible with global adjustments. The Masking tool can help us achieve this goal.

Let's start with a brief description of how masking works within Lightroom.

Mask is a user-defined area where we can locally apply settings from a predefined pool of tools, including all Basic sliders and a few others. The following screenshot shows the complete list of tools that are available with the Masking tool:

Figure 6.41 – The adjustment tools that are available with the Masking tool

Activating the Masking tool opens a "hidden" menu that's split into three categories.

The first two types of masks (Select Subject and Select Sky) are AI-driven, and all we can do with them is click and wait...