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NicolasRemy
Participant
March 3, 2022
Open for Voting

P:(Masking) Make custom mask group re-usable for substract or intersect

  • March 3, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 402 views

Sometimes the (great) "select subject" tool does not get the subject quite right, and I will need to refine the subject selection with other masking tools (brush, color range, etc). 

I will give a name to this refined subject mask, such as "my custom subject".

I wish I could subsequently refer to that mask, when doing substractions or intersections with other masking tools (as if that mask was a variable).

 

Here is an example scenario that I am going through ffrequently:

1/ I use select subject

2/ I refine the selection, and name it "my custom subject"

3/ I do the treatment I want on "my subject" (usually I increase the texture a bit).

4/ I want to correct hot-spots created by my flash on objects brighter then the subject: I will create a radial mask, with the intention to reduce highlights, but I don't want highlights reduced on my subject.

Feature request: I wish I could substract "my custom subject" from the radial mask, the same way as I can click "substract" and then pickup "subject", or "sky".

 

Why this would be valuable to me: currently, in my above scenario I will spend a lot of time re-finding the subscracted subject, since "select subject" didn't properly identify subject edges in the first place. 

3 replies

NicolasRemy
Participant
March 7, 2022

Thanks John that's helpful, I'm looking forward for the release of the invert/flip mask group too.

Nicolas REMY - https://www.nicolaslenaremy.com
johnrellis
Legend
March 6, 2022

'I wish I could substract "my custom subject" from the radial mask, the same way as I can click "substract" and then pickup "subject", or "sky".'

 

One way you can do that now:

 

1. In the Masks panel, right-click My Custom Subject, select Duplicate, and rename the copy to "Reduce Highlights".

 

2. Invert the mask Reduce Highlights, either using this recipe or by using the Copy Settings plugin's Invert Mask command.

 

3. Right-click Reduce Highlights and select Intersect Mask With > Radial Gradient.