Adobe Lightroom Select Subject Masking Updated

tony
June 20, 2026
Bird Photography / news / opinion / tips
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Fantail/Piwakawaka on Lancewood. This is the type of image where the old version of “Select Subject” would struggle and include parts of the green background between the splayed feathers of the tail

I have used Adobe Lightroom since it was launched (and prior to that, used the predecessor that Abode purchased to develop into Lightroom). It has progressed from being what I used as a RAW processor before heading to Photoshop for layers and masks to the tool that I am now able to use for almost all editing tasks I need. The biggest step forward for me was the addition of layers and masks and then the automatically generated masks which saved me hours of manual mask painting with a graphics tablet and pen.

Automatic AI generated masks were a big time saver but one of my frustrations has been that “Select Subject” mask generation in Photoshop seemed far more accurate than in Lightroom. When selecting a bird in flight Lightroom would always capture part of the background between splayed feathers in the mask. This required some refinement using a variety of techniques including, at times, manual brushing. I found that “Select Object” at times was much better and had resorted to largely using this in my mask creation.

“Select Object” does a decent job on the bird but struggles with the perch including some leaves but straying onto the background in places. “Select Subject” now does a dramatically better job cleanly selecting the bird and whole perch with no bleed into the background anywhere.

"Select Object" does a good job on there bird but is incomplete on the tree — “Select Object” does a good job on the bird but is incomplete on the tree and captures some background

The latest update to Lightroom this week seems to have changed all of that. “Select Subject” now seems at least on a par with Photoshop and is rendering quick, accurate selections with little need for adjustment. It seems significantly better than “select Object”. In this Fantail image it cleanly includes all the sharply focussed subject and excludes all the background.

“Select Subject” creates a clean and accurate mask after Lightroom update

Photoshop "Select Subject" mask now equivalent to Lightroom mask — Photoshop “Select Subject” mask now equivalent to Lightroom mask

Having updated my copy of Lightroom I couldn’t go back to the previous version on the same machine to compare results and illustrate the issues. I was able to use a Royal Spoonbill image in the previous Lightroom version on my MacBook Air to show the differences.

Using the “Select Subject” mask parts of the blue sky between the spayed wing primary feathers and between the legs is captured in the mask

Lightroom previous "Select Subject" include part of the blue sky between wing feathers and in gap between the bird legs — Lightroom previous “Select Subject” include part of the blue sky between wing feathers and in gap between the bird legs

This was the situation where “Select Object in the previous Lightroom version gave a cleaner mask as shown below. This mask excludes the blue between the wing feathers and in the gap between the legs

Previous Lightroom "Select Object" mask provides a cleaner selection — Previous Lightroom “Select Object” mask provides a cleaner selection

Using the latest version Lightroom “Select Subject” delivers a mask subtly better than “Select Object” and vastly better than the previous version of “Select Subject”. As shown in the Fantail image, it can be significantly better than “Select Object”

Latest Lightroom "Select Subject" mask — Latest Lightroom “Select Subject” mask

If you haven’t already updated, I would encourage you to go ahead and enjoy this really useful upgrade. One of the advantages of the subscription model is that these incremental updates arrive almost on a monthly basis. This gives prompt access to improvements but adds the challenge of keeping up to date with developments. The “Select Object” tip we taught at last month’s workshop is already partially out of date!

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 180-600mm f5.6-6.3 VR (Fantail) or Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S (Royal Spoonbill)