Review of ON1 Quick Mask A.I. in Photo Raw | Joel Wolfson Photographic Artist

Complex Masks Quickly in Photo Raw 2019

Minor release with a major advantage

ON1 just released their second revision on Photo Raw 2019, Photo Raw 2019.2.

Along with expected bug fixes, performance enhancements and support for some new cameras it has a very cool and useful new feature called AI Quick Mask Tool. This new tool makes use of artificial intelligence to create intricate masks far more quickly than using other masking techniques. It also speeds up masking broad areas of your image such as skies in a landscape.

It’s not that you couldn’t create almost any mask you wanted previously with Photo Raw. ON1 has had a vast array of masking tools for some time but this really speeds things up and is very easy and intuitive. The intelligence part of it looks at many aspects of your image, such as tone, color, and texture to identify the borders for your mask.

Bottom Line First

Normally minor revisions don’t warrant a review, but this one feature is quite useful. If you already own ON1 Photo Raw 2019, it’s a no brainer to get this revision because it’s free. If you do a lot of masking and have been on the fence about upgrading or buying Photo Raw then this may put you over. I don’t advocate buying a whole program or a major upgrade on just one tool, albeit a pretty cool one, but if you read my recent review of Photo Raw 2019 you’ll see this is a nice feather in ON1’s cap for a mature image processor with good organizational capabilities. You can download a free trial if you want to try before you decide whether to buy it or not.

If Quick Mask A.I. tips the scale for you, use the coupon code JWPHOTO and lower your price of upgrade or new purchase by 20%.

How It Works

Below is a pre-dawn image I captured that requires masking so I can adjust the mist in the background separately and with different settings than for what I want to do with the foreground. The transition/horizon has lots of fine detail like trees and bushes, the villa, and the mist. Quick Mask A.I. greatly speeds up the task over using the masking tools available up until now.

The video above and sequence of images below show how I used ON1 Photo Raw 2019’s new Quick Mask to quickly create an intricate mask.

This is the “before”image that requires masking to make separate adjustments for foreground and background. The images below demonstrate how Quick Mask A.I. works.

Now when you click on the mask icon in any filter layer you get the options seen above upon choosing Quick Mask A.I.

You use the green “Keep” brush to do a quick sample of the area you want to be the white part of the mask which is where your adjustment(s) will have their effect. The red “Drop” brush will mask the area you want to be unaffected by your adjustment(s) It only needs to be approximate as long as you brush through a sample of tones, textures and colors you want to be dropped or kept.

After you click “Apply” you see the Keep and Drop map to give you an idea of what will become the mask. Although you can touch up this map I find it best to click the “Done” button to see the actual mask and then decide if you want to refine it.

As you can see Quick Mask did a nice job with all the complex detail along the transition. After a quick swipe of the *Refine* brush, the missing bushes and detail in the tree get filled in.

The red brush stroke you see here with the *Refine* brush fills in the missing bushes and detail in the tree

Voila! The result after the *Refine* brush fills in the bushes and tree

Thanks to the mask, I was able to create the right mood doing separate exposure adjustments for the foreground and background. I used the same mask I created for the background mist to adjust the foreground. I simply copied and pasted it into a separate Tone Enhancer filter/layer and then clicked on the Invert button in the mask options so I could isolate and adjust the foreground.

Conclusion

Quick Mask A.I. is a welcome and useful tool. Personally I do this kind of masking often and although the rest of the masking tools in ON1 Photo Raw 2019 are extensive, this really speeds up the process of making complex masks. Although it does a great job, one still needs the Refine tool. And of course there are many other tools in Photo Raw to tweak your mask when necessary. The lion’s share of the work is still done by Quick Mask with the net result being a big time savings.

Happy Shooting,
Joel

Joel Wolfson is an internationally published photographer who loves teaching as much as shooting. He shares his 30 years of experience as a working pro with other photographers and enthusiasts by way of his workshops, 1 on 1 training, webinars, articles, blog and speaking engagements. His technical articles have been translated for use in more than 30 countries yet he is best known for his artistic images of nature’s fleeting moments and unexpected views of everyday places around the globe. He is one of the pioneers of digital photography having conducted digital photography seminars for Apple and other corporations starting in the early 90s. His roster of notable clients includes numerous publications and fortune 500 companies. He currently works with great affiliates like Arizona Highways, Topaz Labs, ON1, and Skylum to have more avenues for working with those wanting to pursue their love of photography. His goal is to make learning and improving one’s photography easy, fun and rewarding.

Disclosure about product links and affiliations: Some of the links I provide are affiliate links which means I get a small commission, with no additional cost to you, if you click it and end up buying something. It helps keep the lights on as well as supporting this blog and my other free educational resources and articles. So if you use them, thanks! It is always my goal to report my results in a straighforward manner whether or not it favors a particular product.

Comments

Luc Poirier says

February 14, 2019 at 2:28 am

Thanks Joel
Great tutorial, on this new important feature.

- Joel Wolfson says
  
  February 14, 2019 at 3:17 am
  
  Luc, glad you found it useful!
  Thanks,
  Joel
  
BERNARD PARTINICO says

March 21, 2019 at 10:25 pm

Many thanks Joel for your short tutorial, different of others which replace a sky.

- Joel Wolfson says
  
  March 23, 2019 at 10:10 am
  
  Bernard
  You’re most certainly welcome. I’m glad it was useful!
  Cheers,
  Joel