# Using  Masking feature



## mrgooch (Apr 27, 2014)

Will there be negative affects if I use to much masking on a photo? If so what can I expect?


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 27, 2014)

Too much masking?  It'll get slower, the more you use, but apart from that, not really.


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## mrgooch (Apr 27, 2014)

Can it introduce artifacts to the photo?


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 27, 2014)

It depends on what you're doing.  If Auto Mask is on, that can create artifacts.  Or of course if you do extreme adjustments, that might show up artifacts (although no more than if they were done globally).


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## mrgooch (Apr 27, 2014)

In LR5.4 I see no " auto mask" please explain.


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## camner (Apr 29, 2014)

mrgooch said:


> In LR5.4 I see no " auto mask" please explain.


When you use the Adjustment Brush there is an "auto mask" checkbox near the bottom of the panel which LR uses to restrict the mask to "similar" pixels.  This is an advantage when trying to paint using the brush and one doesn't want to go over a fairly defined edge, but can create artifacts if one is painting over an area which has contrasting enough pixels so that the auto mask leaves "holes" in the mask.  If one makes significant adjustments with these "holes" one may get artifacts.  Here's a pretty dramatic example of this phenomenon: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/981211


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