AI Masks Are Making Your Landscape Photos Look Unnatural
And the answer is to go old-school.
T
here are certain themes that often provoke lively discourse between photographers. Tripods, lens hoods, camera bags, how much processing is too much, auto-focus rivalry and analogue versus digital, being just a few of ’em.
But lately the subject of masking has dominated the busier photographic subreddits, DPReview threads and Discord servers, with Adobe Lightroom owners inevitably pouring derision upon the non-Adobe users.
There’s no doubt that Lightroom has the most powerful and flexible masking toolkit in the game, but it’s specifically those AI masks that users of Capture One and DxO PhotoLab seem to covet the most.
But are Capture One and PhotoLab users actually better off without them? Are those fancy AI masks really all they’re cracked up to be? Should the sky, landscape, subject, vegetation, natural ground and the rest of the AI gang always be the masking tool we reach for first?
I put it to you that, particularly for landscape photography, they might be doing more harm than good and that a more nuanced approach to masking is desirable.
Sometimes my friends, the smartest tool in your kit is still the one between your ears.
The rest of this one’s for paid subscribers.
Already a paid subscriber or a Patron? Enter the members’ password from your welcome email.
Not a member? Subscribe on Substack or leave a one-off tip.
Also published in RAW & Unfiltered on Substack.
