Masks: adjust one part of a photo
A mask keeps an adjustment to one part of a photo. Paint it, draw a gradient, or select by brightness or color, then adjust only what the mask covers.
A mask keeps an adjustment to one part of a photo: a sky that needs to come down, a face that needs light, a corner that came out too dark. You choose the area, then move sliders that change only that area. A photo can have up to eight masks.
Add a mask
- Open a photo in the editor and choose Masks, or press Shift+W.
- Pick how to choose the area: Brush, Linear gradient, Radial gradient, Luminance range or Color range.
- Mark the area on the photo. A red overlay shows where the mask applies.
- Move the sliders under "Adjust inside Mask 1". Only the masked area changes.
Once a photo has a mask, Add mask at the top of the panel adds the next one.
Five ways to choose the area
When a shape is selected, a small bar on the photo holds its settings.
Brush. Paint on the photo. The bar has Paint and Erase, then Size, Feather, Flow and Density. Flow is how much each stroke adds, and Density is the most any area can reach, however many strokes you paint. With a brush selected, press [ and ] to change the size, and hold Alt to erase.
Linear gradient. Drag across the photo to lay it out. It fades an edit across the frame, which suits a sky or a foreground. Afterward, drag the squares on the outer lines to set where the fade starts and ends, the middle dot to move it, and the dot on the stalk to turn it. Feather is in the bar.
Radial gradient. Drag to draw an ellipse. The squares on its sides resize it, the round dot on the outer line sets the feather, the dot above turns it, and the center moves it. A label under the ellipse says whether the mask applies inside or outside it. Click the label to flip it.
Luminance range. This selects only the bright or the dark parts. Click a tone on the photo, or drag across an area to take its range. Range sets the darkest and brightest ends by hand, and Smoothness sets how gradually the selection fades past each end.
Color range. Click the photo to pick a color. Shift+click adds another, up to five. Refine sets how far from the picked colors the selection reaches.
Combine shapes in one mask
A mask can hold more than one shape. Open the mask in the list and choose Add shape. Each shape after the first has three icon buttons that set how it combines with the shapes above it:
- Add puts its area together with theirs.
- Subtract cuts its area out of theirs.
- Intersect keeps only where it overlaps them.
A linear gradient over a sky with a Luminance range set to Intersect leaves only the bright part of that sky selected. A radial gradient with a brush set to Subtract lets you paint away the part you do not want.
Every shape also has its own Invert, in its bar or in the menu on its row. Invert in the mask's own menu turns the whole mask inside out.
There are keys for the three drawn shapes: K for a brush, M for a linear gradient and Shift+M for a radial gradient. Each adds its shape to the mask you are working on, or starts a mask if the photo has none.
See where it applies
Show overlay tints the masked area red. Press O to turn it on and off. The overlay steps aside while you move a slider, so you judge the change on the photo itself, and comes back when you stop. With one shape selected, the overlay shows that shape alone.
The eye on a mask's row turns that mask off and on without deleting it.
Adjust inside the mask
A mask has the editor's own controls: Light, Color, Detail and Effects. It adjusts in one of two ways:
- Adjust. The sliders shift the photo's own edit inside the mask.
- Layer. The mask is a full edit of its own, applied on top of the photo's edit. Curves and LUT are available in this mode.
Amount turns the whole mask down, from 100 % to 0.
Keep the list in order
Masks apply from the bottom of the list up, so the top one applies last. The order matters for masks in Layer mode. Drag a row to change it. The menu on each mask has Rename, Duplicate, Invert, Move up, Move down and Delete. If you delete a mask by mistake, Undo brings it back.
Open Litria
Open Litria in Chrome or Edge, or download the desktop app. Open a photo, choose Masks, and pick a shape to start with.