Edit different parts of a photo in Lightroom on mobile

Take advantage of AI-assisted masking tools to apply creative changes to the subject, sky, and background in an image.

Published January 12, 2026

00:01

Introduction

When you're editing photos, applying adjustments to specific parts of the scene can really enhance the look of an image.

Lightroom on mobile offers an incredible set of masking tools that let you precisely apply edits to different areas.

Hi, I'm Seán Duggan with the Adobe Learn team.

In this tutorial, we'll take a look at one of the most powerful features in Lightroom on mobile: the ability to create masks for editing certain areas of a photo.

00:27

Starting with quick actions and subject masks

Before we get into the Masking panel, let's start things off with a Quick Action.

I'll tap the Magic Wand and Lightroom will analyze the scene and suggest some Quick Actions for this image.

I'll choose Subject and then I'll tap the Light Preset to brighten the woman, and I'll use the Amount slider to increase the effect.

If I press and hold on the image, we can see the before view, and when I release, we can see how it looks with the Quick Action applied to just the subject.

I'll tap the Checkmark to accept that.

Now, although we can't see it here, Lightroom has actually created a detailed mask for the subject.

Let's go take a look.

01:08

Exploring and managing AI-generated masks

I'll tap the Circle icon to open the Masking view.

On the right is the Masks panel, and you can see the mask that was created when I applied the Quick Action preset to the subject.

You can drag on this tab at the bottom to expand the Mask panel.

The symbol under the mask thumbnail indicates that this is an AI-generated subject mask, and below that are options for adding to or subtracting from the mask.

If you tap the three dots next to a mask, you'll see a menu with additional options.

To turn off the visibility of a mask adjustment, tap Hide.

Then tap the Mask thumbnail and tap Show to turn the adjustment back on.

Let's take advantage of the mask that Quick Actions created

01:49

Refining subject adjustments with mask controls

and make some additional edits.

The dot under the Light symbol indicates that the preset that I used applied adjustments in this section.

And if I tap on that, we can see what those adjustments are.

I think I'll increase the brightness a bit with the Exposure slider, and I'll also turn up the Contrast.

Next, I'll tap on Color, and I'll boost the Saturation.

Since this is being applied with a subject mask, the changes are only affecting that area.

I'll tap the mask thumbnail to return to the Masks panel.

Now let's add another mask.

I'll tap the blue + symbol,

02:31

Creating and editing a background mask

and here I can choose several different ways to create a mask.

The top three use AI to create detailed masks for the subject, the sky, and the background.

The Brush, the Linear and Radial gradients are manual masking tools.

And the Color and Luminance range tools create masks based on specific color and brightness values in the image that you specify.

The Depth range mask will only be available if the photo was shot on a device using a portrait or depth mode.

I'll choose Select background to create an AI-generated mask for that area.

The red overlay color indicates the area that will be affected by any edits you apply.

With the background mask active, I'll tap on the Light controls.

For this image, I want to create a more graphic style with a washed-out, high-key effect for the background.

So I'll increase the Exposure quite a bit and I'll boost the Contrast.

I'll also lighten the Shadows a little bit.

That's a good start for the look that I'm going for.

Next, I want to take this in a different direction and add some bright color into the background.

I'll tap Color, and then I'll play around with the Hue control.

There are a lot of cool colors to choose from, but for this scene, I'm really liking how the blue contrasts with the red in her skirt.

And then I can fine-tune this with the Saturation slider and even the Temp and the Tint slider.

There's really no rhyme or reason with a color effect like this.

Since I'm going for an exaggerated look that's beyond a typical photograph, it's really all about finding something that you like.

I'll tap the Checkmark in the lower right to apply these changes, and I'll press on the image to see the original with no adjustments, and then release to return to the current view.

To get back to your mask, to make further adjustments,

04:29

Syncing masks and continuing edits across devices

or to add new masks, just tap the Masking icon.

And since all your images are synced across the Lightroom ecosystem, you can open this file in Lightroom on the desktop or Lightroom on the web and continue your work on a larger screen.

Now that you know the basics for working with masks in Lightroom on mobile, give these features a try with some of your own photos.

I'm Seán Duggan with the Adobe Learn team.

Thanks for watching.

Note: Stock assets provided are for practice purposes only. See terms.

What you’ll learn

Start with a Quick Action

The easiest way to edit part of a photo with a mask is to use a Quick Action to modify the subject, background, or other elements in the image. Then tap the circular masking icon to view the masks and use them to apply further edits to those areas.

Take advantage of AI-generated and manual masking tools

In the masking panel tap the plus icon to add a mask. You can choose to create AI-generated masks for the subject, sky or background, as well as a variety of manual masking tools, and masks based on specific areas of color or brightness in the photo. Masks can be modified with the Add and Subtract tools.

Instruction by: Seán Duggan
Adobe Stock Contributors: alexbutko_com

Try these tutorials with Lightroom

Enhance, organize, and share your photos.

View all plans

Cookie Settings

General information

Cookies are small text files stored by your web browser when you use websites. There are also other technologies that can be used for similar purposes like HTML5 Local Storage and local shared objects, web beacons, and embedded scripts. These technologies help us do things like remembering you and your preferences when you return to our sites, measure how you use the website, conduct market research, and gather information about the ads you see and interact with.

If enabled:

We can improve your experience by tailoring the site and the content to things we think might be of interest
We can better keep track of your preferences — like what language you prefer to use
We will better understand your likely interests so we can provide you more relevant Adobe ads and content on non-Adobe websites and in non-Adobe apps
It will help us improve the performance of our website and those of our partners who use the Adobe Experience Cloud

If disabled:

We won’t be able to remember you from session to session so the experience may not be tailored to your interests
You’ll still have access to the content of the site but certain features that depend on cookies may not function
You’ll still see ads, they just may not be as relevant to you