Selecting a subject in Photoshop has always required some combination of patience and compromise, but AI depth masking changes the math on that. Instead of identifying edges or colors, it reads the three-dimensional depth of your scene and lets you select based on where things actually sit in space.
Coming to you from Aaron Nace of Phlearn, this practical video walks through how to use Photoshop's AI depth masking inside Camera Raw to make targeted edits to subjects and backgrounds independently. Nace starts by converting the background layer into a smart object before opening the Camera Raw filter, which keeps every edit non-destructive and fully editable later. From there, he moves into Camera Raw's masking tools and selects depth range, where a simple eyedropper click on the image is enough to tell Photoshop whether to select the foreground or the background. The key thing to understand is that this tool isn't detecting a "subject" in the traditional sense; it's calculating spatial depth, so clicking on your subject works because they're physically closer to the camera, not because Photoshop recognizes them as a person.
Once the depth mask is set, Nace shows how to use it to brighten subjects, lift shadows, and add texture and clarity to make them sharper than the background, all without touching the rest of the frame. He then builds a second depth mask for the background and uses it to pull down exposure, shift color temperature, and boost saturation in the greens. He also uses Camera Raw's point color tool to sample a specific color in the background and adjust its hue, saturation, luminance, and variance independently. That level of localized color control, applied only to the background while the subject stays untouched, is the kind of thing that used to require multiple layers and masks built by hand.
What makes this workflow hold together is the smart object step at the beginning. Because the Camera Raw filter is applied as a smart filter, you can toggle it off and on like a visibility switch, or double-click it to reopen Camera Raw with every mask and setting exactly as you left them. That means nothing is permanent, and you're not locked into any decision made during the edit. Nace also adds a radial gradient mask over the subject's face to subtly brighten it, a vignette to darken the edges of the frame, and Camera Raw's lens blur to push the background further out of focus. He recommends keeping the lens blur subtle and adding a touch of grain afterward, which keeps the effect from looking artificial.
Check out the video above for the full breakdown from Nace, including the lens blur settings and how the before and after actually compare once everything is stacked together.
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