ON1 Photo RAW 2026: additive masking tutorial

This tutorial explains an additive masking workflow in the Effects Module of ON1 Photo RAW 2026. The speaker uses a photograph of birds on sand to show why painting an effect onto a subject can appear to do nothing: the filter already affects the entire image. Inverting its mask first allows the brush to reveal the effect where needed.

The alternative starts in the Add Filter dialog. Before choosing a filter, the speaker selects Nothing in the Apply To section. This creates a black mask across the image, so the adjustment remains hidden until the user selects an area. The order matters: the speaker briefly skips Nothing while adding Color Grading, then repeats the steps to demonstrate the intended workflow.

For Dynamic Contrast, the speaker chooses the Surreal preset to make the result easy to see, then selects Subject to apply the effect to the bird. A second example applies Color Grading to the background through the Background selection. The exaggerated settings illustrate mask placement rather than a recommended finished edit.