What a mask is

A mask defines where a layer’s adjustments apply.

Press M to activate the last drawing tool, or click ＋ in Layers to add a layer. Select a layer to adjust its masked area. Click Background or press esc to return to whole-photograph adjustments.

Layers appear above Background. Each has a name, colour dot and eye. Selecting a layer shows Opacity, Diffusion and its shape chips. The adjustment banner and slider colours identify the selected target.

Manage layers. Click the eye to disable a layer. Use the hover ✕ or context menu to delete it. The context menu also supports rename and six display colours: Lime, Leaf, Jade, Indigo, Orchid and Rose. Drag a row by its dot or name to reorder it. Higher layers are applied over lower layers.

Combine shapes. Each layer contains shapes processed in order. New shapes add to the mask. Switch a shape’s chip to subtract to remove its region. Each shape has an eye to disable it without deleting it. With every shape disabled, the layer affects no pixels but keeps its settings. Deleting its last shape deletes the layer.

Layer opacity and the layer eye apply to the combined mask. Right-click and choose Invert to use the area outside that combined mask.

Masks are stored as shapes and detection requests in uncropped photograph coordinates. They remain aligned through crop and straighten and can be recalculated when copied to another photograph.