Color Range Tool
The Color Range Tool is a masking feature in Adobe Lightroom that creates selections based on specific colors within an image. Unlike traditional masking methods that depend on shape, luminosity, or manual brush strokes, this tool isolates particular color ranges throughout a photograph regardless of their spatial location. Photographers sample a target color and expand the selection to include similar tones, allowing adjustments to be applied selectively to those colors alone.
Application in Sky Masking
The Color Range Tool is particularly effective for isolating and adjusting skies in landscape photography. Rather than attempting to trace the often-irregular horizon line with a gradient or brush mask, photographers can directly select the blue tones present in the sky. This approach captures sky pixels more accurately, including areas like gaps between trees or irregular terrain features, while avoiding accidental adjustments to the foreground. The tool’s ability to refine the range threshold ensures that only the intended sky tones are selected.
Core Functionality
The tool operates by allowing users to click on a color within the image to establish a starting point for selection. A range slider then controls how broadly the selection expands to include similar colors—narrow ranges create precise selections of nearly identical tones, while wider ranges capture a broader spectrum. Users can also add or subtract colors from the selection by holding modifier keys while clicking on additional areas. Once the selection is established, any Lightroom adjustment slider can be applied exclusively to the masked region.
Source Notes
- 2026-04-13: Lightroom Classic v15 AI Powered Enhancements for Creative Control and · ▶ source
- 2026-04-18: Adobe Camera Raw 183 Depth Masking Lens Correction Film Presets Overvi · ▶ source
- 2026-04-21: Lightroom · ▶ source
- 2026-04-30: Photoshop · ▶ source