Yep, Luminosity Masking has been added to Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom

I don’t think it was ever on my Wish List for Adobe, but they must have known I wanted Luminosity Masks in Adobe Camera Raw!  I have shown Luminosity Masking here in Photoshop several times, but this is the first time you will see it for Adobe Camera Raw (or Lightroom).  That is because it is a new feature for Photoshop CC 2018.

I am not going to go into the whole breakdown of what a Luminosity Mask is.   If you want that, check out this post here.  Instead, I am just going to fill you in on the new features for both Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom.

You will find these features anywhere you were able to make a mask before.  Those places would be the Adjustment Brush, the Graduated Filter, and the Radial Filter.  They are all the way down at the bottom of the tool settings just above the visualize Mask checkbox.

There you will find two types of Range Masks.  One is the Color Range Mask and the other the Luminance Mask.  Here is the written difference.  However, be sure to watch the video tutorial below for even more help using these new tools!

The Luminance Range Mask

I prefer to use this Mask setting when I need to protect a certain area of my photo based on the luminance values.  In the video, you will see how I make a blue sky very blue without affecting the puffy white clouds.  Just like Blend If, think of this as a Protection adjustment.  Say, “I want to protect the highlights or I want to protect the shadows” and move the slider accordingly.

Luminosity Masking Adobe Camera Raw Lightroom Luminosity Range Mask

The Color Range Mask

The Color Range Mask is a tricky one.  It will select a Color Range from an Eye Dropper that you select on your photo.  However, it only works within an area you have masked.  In the tutorial, I paint the entire canvas with a mask and then use it to mask some pretty tricky areas VERY quickly.  You could also use this on a smaller selection, you do not have to paint the whole canvas to use it effectively.

Luminosity Masking Adobe Camera Raw Lightroom Color Range Mask

 

Get the full Masking Course here!

 

 

Blake Rudis
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
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