Today’s Question: When I work with the ‘People’ Mask [in Lightroom Classic] I sometimes get the latest version with nine options. With other images, I’m only offered three options. How do I get the entire nine options for all my photos?
Tim’s Quick Answer: The options for a People mask when applying targeted adjustments in Lightroom Classic are based on what elements were able to be detected in the image. If you’re not seeing all nine possible options, it simply means that Lightroom Classic wasn’t able to detect the other elements.
More Detail: Among the mask options for targeted adjustments in Lightroom Classic is the People option. If one or more people are detected in a photo, you can select the thumbnail for a person under the People heading within the Masking controls. Once you’ve selected a person, you’ll see checkboxes for the portions of a person that can be affected by your targeted adjustment.
The currently available options include Facial Skin, Body Skin, Eyebrows, Eye Sclera (whites of the eyes), Iris and Pupil, Lips, Teeth, Hair, and Clothes. This list could expand with future updates to Lightroom Classic.
However, any elements that weren’t detected won’t be included as available options. For example, with a photo that includes two people in profile where their eyes aren’t really visible for one person only five options were available and for the other person seven options were available.
The People masking feature is based on image analysis, and you can’t alter that analysis or manually select portions of a person with the People feature. Therefore, if an option isn’t available because it couldn’t be detected the only solution is to use a different masking option, such as the Brush mask option to manually paint to indicate areas you want to apply a targeted adjustment to.
