5.3.6. Image luminance masks

An image luminance mask isolates an area of the image based on a luminance selection. Luminance masks can be very useful for applying natural color adjustments to the shadows, mid-tones, or highlights of the image, without affecting other areas.

There are no viewer controls for luminance masks, but the viewer provides a real-time representation of the current mask selection, like the example in the second image above.

Sidebar controls

• Invert: Toggles between retaining (the default) or removing the selected luminance range.
• Tone: Selects the primary tonal value on which the selection will be based
• Range: Defines the size of the tonal range surrounding the primary tone that will be included in the selection.
• Softness: Softens the selection at the edges of the selected tonal range. Increasing softness often creates more natural results when color adjustments are applied based on a luminance mask.