MintGradeA luminance mask selects pixels by brightness, letting you affect highlights or shadows without changing the whole photo. It is especially useful in mixed-light scenes.
A practical way to approach it
Choose the tonal region
Target brighter parts to lower window glare or dark areas to lift a foreground. Keep the selection wide enough to blend smoothly.
Refine the edge
Use feathering and density to avoid visible boundaries. Check the mask overlay instead of guessing where it applies.
Make a restrained edit
Start with local exposure or highlights; compare after disabling the mask to confirm that the surrounding photo still looks natural.
One limitation to remember
Very bright skin, clothing and walls may share the same luminance range, so inspect what else is selected.
Continue in MintGrade: Mask controls
Target brighter parts to lower window glare or dark areas to lift a foreground. Keep the selection wide enough to blend smoothly.
Opens the relevant controls for JPG, PNG and WebP files. No edit is applied until you choose one.
Open mask controls in MintGrade →