Masks

Every adjustment changes only the selected mask. Pick a mask in the MASKS section of the Editor sidebar, in Advanced mode.

The mask types

Mask	Covers	Good for
Global	The whole image	Overall exposure, white balance and color.
Subject	The parts that come into focus during the stack: your subject	Sharpening, texture and color on the subject only.
Background	The parts that stay out of focus	Smoothing bokeh, reducing noise, warming or cooling the backdrop.
Radial	An ellipse you place, with a soft edge	Spotlighting the subject, or darkening a bright corner.
Linear	A gradient across the frame	Toning down a bright top edge, or warming the foreground.
Brush	Whatever you paint	Anything the other masks miss.

Each mask keeps its own slider values. So you can warm the subject and cool the background in the same image.

Seeing what’s masked

Click the eye in the MASKS header to show the mask as a magenta overlay. It’s only a view and never changes your saved file. It turns on by itself when Subject and Background finish building, turns off when you move a slider, and never shows on Global.

Turning a mask off and on

When a mask carries an adjustment, a small eye appears at the left edge of its button. Click the eye, or Alt+click (Mac: Option+click) the button, to turn the mask off. Its adjustments leave the image until you turn it back on. This changes your edit, not just your view.

A mask that’s off shows a slashed eye and a struck-through name. Moving one of its sliders turns it back on.

Three eyes, three jobs

Control	Where	What it does
Mask eye	Inside a mask button	Turns that mask’s adjustments off. This changes your edit.
Overlay eye	MASKS header	Shows the mask in magenta. View only.
Show-original eye	ADJUSTMENTS header	Hides all adjustments for a quick before/after. View only.

Subject and Background masks

When a stack finishes, Macro Studio finds the parts that came into focus (the subject) and the parts that never did (the background). The toolbar shows Building mask… for a few seconds while it works.

Retouch uses the same Subject mask to paint only on the subject, or only around it. See Paint on Subject or Background.

Refining a Subject or Background mask

These masks can miss thin parts like antennae, see-through parts like wings, or areas where subject and background are a similar color. To fix one, select Subject or Background and click Refine Mask. The brush editor opens.

Drag to paint into the mask, or out of it in Erase mode. Shift+drag flips Add and Erase for one stroke.
Size sets the brush size ([ / ]).
Feather softens the brush edge, for soft edges like hair ({ / }).
Strength sets how strongly each dab paints (, / ., or type 0-9).
Right-drag, or hold Space and drag, to pan. Scroll to zoom.
Press Z or tap Space to go to fit, and again to go back to the same spot at the same zoom.

A row just above the toolbar lists these shortcuts, with your own keys if you’ve changed them.

Keyboard Shortcuts lists the rest, including scroll-wheel controls. Click Apply to keep your changes, or Cancel to keep the old mask.

Seeing your adjustments while you paint

The Overlay checkbox on the toolbar shows the mask in magenta. Turn it off (or press O) to see the image with your adjustments applied through the mask instead. The picture follows your brush, so you can judge an edge by how the result looks. The app remembers your choice.

While you paint, the sidebar shows only ADJUSTMENTS, with the mask’s name in its header. Moving a slider changes this mask’s adjustments and turns the overlay off so you can see the result. The rest of the sidebar comes back when you click Apply or Cancel.

If the image doesn’t change as you paint, this mask has no adjustments yet. A note at the top of the image says so. Move a slider to give it some.

Cancel only undoes your brush strokes. Slider changes stay. To undo them, use ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z or History after you leave the brush.

Radial and Linear masks

Radial and Linear are shapes you place on the image, like Lightroom’s radial and graduated filters. Your adjustment fades smoothly across them. Click Radial or Linear, drag the handles into place, then set your sliders. A row under the image reminds you how to move the shape, and for Radial, which keys change Feather.

Radial

An ellipse. The effect is strongest inside it and fades out between the dashed inner ring and the outer edge.

Drag the center dot to move it, the four edge handles to resize it, and the rotate handle to turn it.
Feather (0-100%, default 50%) sets how soft the fade is ({ / }).
Invert mask puts the effect outside the ellipse, for a quick vignette.

Linear

A gradient. The effect grows from nothing at the first line to full strength at the second. Drag the end handles to set the lines, the center dot to move it, and the rotate handle to turn it. Put the lines close together for a sharp change, or far apart for a gentle one. To invert it, drag it around the other way.

Resetting a gradient

If the handles end up off screen, for example after a crop, click Reset Mask. The shape goes back to its default place. Your adjustments stay.

Brush mask

The Brush mask starts empty, and you paint it yourself. Use it to brighten just a beetle’s eye, for example. Click Brush, then Open Brush, paint, and click Apply. It opens the same brush editor, so you can see your adjustments while you paint here too.

Mask keyboard shortcuts

Press K for Brush, M for Linear, Shift+M for Radial, and O to show or hide the overlay. They work on the main canvas only, not inside a tool. In the brush editor, O switches between the overlay and your adjustments. Inside Retouch, M is Match tone, O shows the mask Paint uses, and Shift+O changes Paint.

Tips

Check the overlay often. It’s the fastest way to see if a mask fits.
Fix the mask, not the slider. If Subject sharpening makes halos, refine the mask’s edges.