Use The Overlay Modes To Check Your Lightroom Masks

Lightroom masking is powerful and helps photographers emphasize subjects and craft stronger images. The mask overlay defaults to a red color showing an area the is mask. Depending on your photo, that red overlay may be difficult to see. There are three other color overlays for masks in Lightroom - green, white, and black. Cycle through these using the keyboard shortcut Shift-O to double check the precision of your mask.

See this technique in action in the short video with this article.

The default red overlay shows the mask bleeding into the rock. It is less obvious in the sky, because the sky has a similar color to the overlay.

Switching to a green overlay shows the unmasked areas in the sky more clearly.

Silhouetted Sunset Photographer In La Jolla 2
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