← Photo Editing Training

LeConte Photographic Society

Joel's LR
Masking Series

A 2.5-hour deep dive into every Lightroom masking tool, broken into short focused segments. Taught by Joel Ownby.

31

Segments

2.5

Hours of Content

11

Mask Types Covered

🎭

Joel Ownby · LR Masking

Joel's LR Masking Series

Every mask type in Lightroom — brush, subject, sky, object, landscape, color range, luminance range, people, gradients, and intersecting — demonstrated with real wildlife, landscape, and portrait images.

Introduction & What Is a Mask?

Joel defines what a mask is and why "selection" and "mask" mean the same thing in Lightroom.

⏱ 0:00–3:50

When to Mask & Accessing the Tool

When in your editing workflow to use masks, and how to open the Masking panel.

⏱ 3:51–7:59

Overview of All Mask Types

A quick tour of every mask type: subject, sky, background, landscape, object, brush, gradients, color range, luminance range, and people.

⏱ 8:00–11:40

Brush Tool: Activation, Size & Feather

Control size with the scroll wheel, and understand feather at 0%, 50%, and 100%.

⏱ 11:41–17:19

Brush Tool: Flow vs Density

The critical difference between flow (builds up) and density (hard ceiling). A distinction most photographers miss.

⏱ 17:20–19:34

Mask Operations

Add, Subtract & Renaming Masks

The A and B brush modes, the floating mask popup, and how to rename masks for organization.

⏱ 19:35–24:50

Overlay: Color, Opacity & Visibility

Toggle overlay, choose overlay color, adjust opacity — and why blue often beats red for nature photography.

⏱ 24:51–29:19

Mask Management

Multiple Masks & the Eyeball Toggle

Adding a second independent mask, how the active overlay behaves, and using the per-mask and global eyeball.

⏱ 29:20–32:47

Mask Operations

Three-Dots Menu: Invert, Duplicate & Intersect

Rename, invert, duplicate-and-invert for backgrounds, intersect, and delete — the full menu.

⏱ 32:48–37:49

Mask Adjustments Panel

All available sliders, how they differ from global sliders, the master amount slider, curves, and effects within a mask.

⏱ 37:50–41:41

Auto Mask: Precision Edge Selection

How auto mask reads color and brightness from the crosshair to detect edges — when to toggle it on and off.

⏱ 41:42–47:38

Feather in Practice: When to Use It

Two practical examples: when feather helps (smooth blending) vs when it hurts (crisp edges).

⏱ 47:39–53:53

Subject Mask vs Object Mask

Blue heron demo: subject mask overselects, object rectangle does better. When to reach for each tool.

⏱ 53:54–57:29

Refining Selections: Add, Subtract & Zoom

Zooming to 800%, using a tiny brush on tight areas like a bird's eye, and the spacebar panning trick.

⏱ 57:30–59:56

Background Select vs Duplicate & Invert

Comparing the Background mask tool against duplicate-and-invert — and why duplicate-and-invert usually wins.

⏱ 59:57–1:01:51

Multiple Subjects: Object Mask on Bear Cubs

Two-bear demo with object rectangle masks, selecting a separate tree trunk, and subtracting a bear from a background mask.

⏱ 1:01:52–1:06:53

Subject vs Object on Flowers + Intersecting Luminance

Flowers where subject wins; intersecting a luminance range mask to isolate white petals only.

⏱ 1:06:54–1:13:06

Color Range Mask

Selecting a green background using the color range mask and adjusting the refine slider.

⏱ 1:13:07–1:14:42

Multi-Mask Workflow

Eagle: Object Mask + Background via Duplicate & Invert

Juvenile eagle where subject fails and object wins; adding a subtle blue cast to white backgrounds.

⏱ 1:14:43–1:21:53

Multi-Mask Workflow

Cormorant: Subject + Object + Linear Gradient

A full multi-mask workflow: subject select, darkening a post, linear gradient, and two methods for simulating blur.

⏱ 1:21:54–1:30:26

Multi-Mask Workflow

Balloons: Subject + Color Range + Intersecting

Hot air balloons — subject with color range subtract to remove sky bleed, intersecting color range for the blue sky.

⏱ 1:30:27–1:34:21

Radial Gradient

Radial Gradient: Waterfall Example

Six radial gradients on one scene; controlling center point, edge softness, and angle.

⏱ 1:34:22–1:40:24

Distraction Removal Tool

Lightroom's AI-powered distraction removal for removing people from backgrounds — uses content-aware fill.

⏱ 1:40:25–1:41:49

Intersecting Mask with Linear Gradient (Cormorant)

Subject select, subtracting beak and feet with a brush, then intersecting a linear gradient to affect only the body.

⏱ 1:41:50–1:46:31

Roseate Spoonbill: Linear Gradients + Intersecting

Two subject selections with feathered brush subtracts, intersecting linear gradients to brighten specific body sections independently.

⏱ 1:46:32–1:52:34

Sky Mask & Landscape Mask Introduction

Sky mask demo and introduction to the Landscape mask — detecting sky, vegetation, and natural ground automatically.

⏱ 1:52:35–1:57:29

Landscape Mask: Blue Ridge Parkway Deep Dive

A four-category landscape mask edit: road, grass, subtracting categories from each other, luminance range on clouds.

⏱ 1:57:30–2:05:13

Landscape Mask: More Examples

Two more examples showing architecture, water, and the full seven-category detection in complex scenes.

⏱ 2:05:14–2:09:38

Multi-Mask Workflow

Baby Elk: Color Range + Object + Intersecting Luminance

Complex multi-mask edit: grass color range, object mask with color range subtract, intersecting luminance range to reduce hot spots.

⏱ 2:09:39–2:14:37

People Mask: Skin, Eyes, Lips & Hair

Skin smoothing, blur simulation, eyebrows, sclera, iris/pupils with sharpening, lips with red channel curve, teeth whitening, hair darkening.

⏱ 2:14:38–2:22:15

People Mask · Closing

People Mask: Lighting Drama + Closing

Intersecting a linear gradient onto a face mask to increase shadow-side drama; Joel's closing thoughts on what to practice next.

⏱ 2:22:16–2:24:47