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The use of masks allow you to hide or obscure parts of an image. Masks are useful so you can combine the contents or results of one layer with your primary image. Layer Masks allow you to use powerful painting tools to control their results. The more you work on combining multiple images, the more you’ll use masks.
Luminar offers 4 types of masks:
Creating a Layer Mask
If you’d like to use a mask on a layer, the first step is to add one. This approach is most useful when you want to globally mask parts of an image layer or to blend several filters at once. This mask can be edited using the Brush, Radial Mask, or Gradient Mask tools.
To add a mask:
These tools offer several controls, we’ll explore them next.
Painting a Mask
Once you’ve added a mask, you can now add or subtract using a variety of tools. You can freely switch between the Brush, Radial Mask, and Gradient Mask tools while working. Once you’ve chosen one of these tools, a new toolbar appears. Let’s explore the essential controls.
Global Mask Controls
Once you start to edit a mask, you’ll see global mask controls. These make it easier to visualize a mask or edit its contents. These controls are found in the toolbar.
Mask Tool Controls
The next controls affect how you can add or subtract from your mask. Luminar 2018 offers three tools that you can use to paint a mask.
Using a Brush Mask
The Brush can be used in either Paint mode or Erase mode to add to or subtract from areas of the mask. Clicking on the Paint option will add white areas to the mask. These areas will be preserve the current layer. Brushing with Erase mode is handy for “trimming” overspray of the mask and making your selection more accurate.
To control a brush, click the Brush Settings dropdown menu (it’s next to the Erase option). In this window, you can configure all the paint brush settings such as Size, Opacity and Softness. In the center of the grid there are various presets for quick selection. If you have a pen tablet attached, you can also configure Pen Pressure, Radius and Opacity levels.
Here’s how to use the Masking Brush tool.
1. Open an image in Luminar 2018.
2. Click the Add Layer button (+ symbol) or choose Layers > Add New Adjustment Layer. Let’s add an obvious effect so its easy to view.
3. With the adjustment layer selected, click the Add Filters button.
4. Apply the Dramatic effect and increase the sliders to a high setting.
5. Create a Layer mask on the adjustment layer by clicking the Edit Mask button.
6. Choose Brush from the pop-up list. You now have two options to decide how the initial mask is created.
7. Paint. Clicking with the Paint tool fills the mask with black (hiding all of its results). As you paint and add strokes they are added in white. This method allows you to brush and add the results of the Adjustment layer selectively.
8. Erase. Clicking with the Erase tool fills the mask with white (showing all of its results). As you paint and add strokes they are added in black. This method allows you to brush and subtract the results of the Adjustment layer selectively. The erased areas will show through to the image below.
9. Click the Visibility icon (eyeball) to view the Mask.
12. Click and paint on the canvas to modify the selected mask (layer or adjustment layer).
13. To refine the mask even more, click the Mask Menu to modify the Density and Feathering for the mask. This can control how the mask applies and help blend its results more.
14. Toggle the mask visibility off by clicking the Visibility icon (eyeball) in the toolbar.
15. When satisfied with the mask, click the Done button in the toolbar.
7. You can change the mode of the mask if you need to change how a mask is applied by clicking the Invert button. By default the Radial Gradient mask that is created will “protect” the center of the circle/oval and any enhancements will be applied outside of the inner circle. Click this button to invert the mask so that effects will be applied TO the inner circle.
8. You can also adjust properties like Blending modes and Opacity to change the masks impact on the image.
A Luminosity Mask is a fast and easy way to create a new mask based on the brightness of image pixels. When selected, the command will fill the active layer with a mask based on the brightness of image pixels. The transparency for the layer is directly related to the brightness of the pixels.
This command works very well to mask an overlaid image such as a cloud or texture layer. You can also mask a copy of a layer to enhance only part of an image. For example, if the sky and clouds are bright, you can create an exact mask only for that area of the image and then enhance them.
Here's how to create a Luminosity Mask:
Here are some extra techniques you can use when masking a layer or adjustment layer.
Another way to apply a mask is directly to a filter. This workflow allows you to isolate the results of a specific area. Perhaps it’s to enhance just the sky or to add details to a specific area of an image. The use of the Gradient Mask and Radial Mask mode can be helpful to smoothly blend a filter.
To create a Filter Mask:
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