WHERE IS IT?
Range Masking is available for the three local adjustment tools:
the Graduated Filter, the Radial Filter and the Adjustment Brush. It
lets you confne the local adjustment either to a specifc color or a
portion of the brightness range within the area defned by the tool.
PHOTOSHOP ANATOMY
1
3
23
5
2
4 6
5
6
MASK BY
BRIGHTNESS
By setting Range
Mask to Luminance,
you can target a
specifc part of the
tonal range. You
then tweak the
two points on the
Luminance Range
slider to defne the
tonal range you
want to afect. Here
you can paint over
the rocks with the
Adjustment Brush,
then restrict the
efect to only the
shadow tones.
MASK BY COLOR
After making a
local adjustment,
set Range Mask to
Color to confne the
adjustment to the
colors you choose.
It’s useful in our
example photo for
targeting the blues
in the sky. You can
set eyedropper
points to target
colors – Shift-click to
add up to fve points.
CONTROL COLOR
TOLERANCE
When Range Mask
is set to Color, the
Color Range slider
lets you determine
the tolerance of the
sample point. A low
range means only
colors that are very
similar to the sample
point are afected,
while a large range
means more shades
are included.
SET A TRANSITION
The Luminance
Smoothness setting
lets you control how
abruptly the range
of tones is afected.
A low smoothness
means a sharp
change between the
tones included in the
targeted range and
those left out, while
a high smoothness
allows for more of a
gradual transition.
CHECK THE
MASK OVERLAY
The Mask Overlay is
useful when you’re
judging the efects
of Range Masking,
as it shows which
areas are afected.
Toggle the overlay
on or of with Y, and
choose a color that
contrasts with your
image. You can also
paint with the brush
to refne your mask.
1
4