Inspiring

Answered

Lack of precision in masks - ie subject mask

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
June 30, 2025
3 replies
660 views

Hello

I am experiencing - what i feel is below par - precision in masks. In this particular example, i am showing a screenshot of a subject mask that i am currently refining.
Is this simply limitions of the program, limitations of my hardware, or is it a bug?

Is it maybe possible for us, as users, to gain the ability to refine masks more automatically in a future update?

I am using Intel Arc integrated graphics, with 32gb of RAM and an Intel Ultra 185H processor.

Windows

Correct answer AxelMatt

@DenmarkOne sometime it's better to get a mask with smooth edges. Because then the adjustments blend smoothly with the rest of the image. An abrupt transition can sometimes lead to undesirable results. I don't see any major problems with the masking extending smoothly beyond the object in your first screenshot.

I've been working many times with masks in the past and I don't have any problems with this smooth masking.

Otherwise try what @JohanElzenga wrote.

D

DenmarkOneAuthor

Inspiring

1st image is a screenshot of a subject mask without any editing to it. 2nd is the image without the mask.
I understand it selects part of the countertop because of focus.
What I dont understand is how rough it is on the left side and how much overlap into the background there is along the tail.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Try this: intersect the subject mask with a second subject mask. That often makes the result more tight.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

GoldingD

Legend

Please post an example where you have not yet added or subtracted. Please post an example immediately after creating the subject mask. Your example with the subtractions adds confusion to your issue. As you can see, members misread it as applying a brush mask instead of a subject mask. Also, it would have been best to see the issue without extra steps overshadowing the issue.

AxelMatt

Community Expert

As far as I see you're using a brush which size is to large for the appropriate areas you like to mask. Also you don't select the "Auto Mask" option.

Normally, object masking works relatively accurately, but also depends on the contrast ratios in the photo.

Please show us a scrrenshot only using the object masking.

My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI

D

DenmarkOneAuthor

Inspiring

As stated in my post, in the screenshot i am currently refining the mask. To create it, i used subject mask.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I believe you misunderstand how this works. Yes, you initially used subject mask. But then you added to the mask using a brush. That simply adds those brush strokes (which are too large) to the mask. Brushing does not update the subject recognition.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

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