Filter masks in Luminar 2018 give you the ability to use the filters beyond just applying them to the entire image. This gives you flexibility and adds to your creativity. I have written a series of three articles. In Part 1 of the series, I talk about the basics of filter masks and brush and mask basics. In Part 2, I show you two ways to apply a mask using the Brush with the Dehaze Filter. In Part 3, I show you the basics of using the Gradient mask with the Dehaze Filter to enhance the sky, the basics of using the Luminosity mask with the Dehaze Filter to enhance the sky and the basics of using the Radial mask with the Tone Filter, to enhance affect a specific area in a photograph.
To follow along you will need Luminar 2018.
You will find the other two parts here.
How to Use Luminar’s Brushes, Filters, and Masks – Part 2
How to Use Luminar’s Brushes, Filters, and Masks – Part 3
The Basics
When you add a Filter to your Workspace (click here to see how to create a custom workspace) the filter is applied to the entire image. By clicking on the brush icon on the top right of the filter in your Workspace, you have a number of ways of controlling how the filter is applied. They are the Brush, the Gradient Mask, the Radial Mask and the Luminosity Mask. The video below will get you started.
Creating Filter Masks Using the Brush
In this section, I’ll show you how to use filter masking with the Brush. I am also going to talk about mask and brush settings that affect how the mask is applied to the image. When you select the Brush, by default, the mask is applied to the entire image. When you start to use the brush and apply the mask, only the places where you have brushed-on, show the effect of the filter.
Brush and Mask Settings
When you apply a mask using the brush, you have Mask and Brush options.
Mask Basics
- Fill – This fills the entire image with the mask
- Invert – This inverts or gives you the opposite mask of the original mask you drew.
- Clear – This removes the mask entirely from the image
- Paste – This pastes the mask you have copied onto the clipboard into this mask
- Show Mask – This shows the mask in ruby red on the image
- Density – This makes the mask blend with the background better
- Feather – blurs or softens the edge of the mask
Brush basics
- Paint – This creates the mask
- Erase – This removes the mask
- Size – This controls brush diameter. You can also use the brackets keys on the keyboard to change brush size [ and ]
- Softness – This controls how much of a mask is painted from the center of the circle out. If you have it set to Opacity 100% and Softness 100% and just click on the image, you will see that it is darkest at the center and as it moves out it get lighter. If you set the softness to 0% and click, it will make a solid red circle the size of the brush.
- Opacity – This control how much of the filter is applied to the area you brush over. If you have it set to 100% then that will apply 100% of the filter, where it is solid red. If you have it set to 50% then 50% of filter effect will be applied to that part of the image. Softness will also impact this.
The video below is about the basics of the using the Mask and Brush.
More To Come…
In the second article of this series, I’ll show you how to:
- Use the Brush in two different ways using the Dehaze Filter as an example. The techniques I share with you can be applied to the other filters as well.
In the third article of this series, I show you the basics of:
- Using the Gradient mask with the Dehaze Filter to enhance the sky
- Using the Luminosity mask with the Dehaze Filter to enhance the sky
- Using the Radial mask with the Tone Filter to enhance a portion of an image
