Original image, almost totally sharp from front to back…
Add graduated filter to blur background…
Surround foreground rock with AI zone as submask of graduated filter…
Invert shape of AI zone mask over rock…
End result. background gradual blur behind sharp rock…
This is definitely cool 
On the other hand, I got almost the same result, but less exaggerated, just by getting the aperture and focus point right without having to do any post-processing…
Helping the subject to pop is definitely a huge
Anything that means less editing is generally worth it in my book!
That said, masking to make the subject pop is a really useful trait and I do like there’s a number of ways to do it in PL (or indeed, to make the background pop less).
Blur, reducing contrast, exposure, HSL… it’s all handy to help “mute” the background.
It’s neat that we can now reduce global lens corrections and only apply them most strongly to the subject (which, again, helps the subject draw the eye). Local noise reduction is handy too.
It’s great for portraits. specially if you have camera with a rather small sensor and often get too much DOF. And not only the Blur but reducing microcontrast in areas you want out of focus can make your photos pop. I used to send my pictures to Affinity Photo for that task. Now, I can do that job in PL9.
Reducing Microcontrast is really fantastic when the task is to clence a sky from all sorts of clutter and sensor crap. I use it all the time when processing repro photographed old film like for example color slides.
Microcontrast has always been a problem when masking wasn’t available since it is problematic when used generally for the whole picture. Applied locally it definitely can make wonders now.
Sure but Photolab gives me much better control than using my new Viltrox 85mm/1.4 or Viltrox 27mm /1.2 (APS-C ekv. to 40mm)
Who needs F/1.2 now really 
It is good with options.
It depends on the lens and the goals for the photograph. One of my favorite lenses is the Voigtlander 40mm f/1.2 Nokton MF lens designed specifically for the Nikon Z mount with electronic contacts. At f/4 to f/8 it is very sharp and gets sharper across the frame like many top quality modern, fast, AF lenses… Wide open, or close to it, it generates an effect often referred to as the Voigtlander “glow” which renders images with a softer, romantic, and sometimes dreamy “glow” around subjects across the whole frame. I don’t shoot at f/1.2 very often but I do shoot wide open occasionally when I want that effect or maximum subject separation.
As an aside, this all metal and glass lens weighs a bit more than 11 ounces and is a fraction of the size of most f/1.2 auto focus prime lenses… It is a great match for my Nikon Zf body.
Mark
I wish DxO could have (would ?) come up with a better name for this feature/action … “Invert shape” certainly does not intuitively convey its purpose - and it’s too easily confused with “Invert mask” … Mmmm ! - which does what ??
Perhaps “Invert effect” would be better
Any other better suggestions ?!
Especially when it sits alongside “invert mask”. It’s something you really need to sit with and learn the outcomes of - it’s not intuitive.
When it comes to portraiture especially, I have the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 which, in my opinion has the most beautiful of bokeh.
Here’s a shot I have shown before, taken on my Nikon D850 at f/1.8…
I have found there is a noticeable difference between this kind of bokeh and the Gaussian blur that most software, including PL, uses.
Actually, in Affinity you can select different kinds of blur, Lens, Gaussian, Motion, etc, etc. But I guess, the best is if you can have real lens blur. Less job and probably better results!
Indeed. The other problem with masked blur is those peculiar artefacts it can produce at the junction sharp and blurred…
Anyone got any ideas?
I’m not having PL where I’m at the moment, so I’m not sure if this will work. Maybe you can fix it with mask brushing. First, clear the mask at the top with Remove Brush and then add an extra mask with lower opacity in the affected area.
This would surely be much easier to fix in a bitmap editor like Affinity or PS …
I was just close to joking. I love my new fast lenses but I can also see now like Joannas example high lights that I can do a lot with my old animal pictures (taken with older slower glass) with sometimes quite disturbing and too “buzy” backgrounds using the new masking, submasking, copy and inverting mask functions. I have used more or less the same methods on houndreds of old safari pictures as Joanna have done and inverting mask is often a far better choise that gives more clean edges than masking a subject, person or animal and then masking a background.
Don’t forget to use the short cuts with Shift+N, Shift+C, Shift+I and Shift+S
Another interesting example variant was when a Control Line also covered a couple of persons. They can be exempted by first holding down the Alt-button while selecting the “Person”-AI mask from the menu. That lifts the Control Line-mask from those persons.
I guess there might be even more smart things we can do with the Alt or Shift-keys. I can’t try that before I get my new computer but you Mac-users can.
Unfortunately or not, most modern lenses tend to be very sharp. Easy to see the difference when comparing e.g. Nikon old AF135/2D DC with modern Z135/1.8S.
Hey Wlodek, even if the lenses are sharp, I guess they are not so sharp in Out Of Focus areas… 
Of course, but AF135/2D DC generally requires less editing work than Z135/1.8S in the in-focus areas for portraits, at least in my case.
It’s a great feature but the fact that it took a while for someone as skilled as @Joanna to “get” it is not a great reflection on the UI.
I found Lightroom’s UI much superior. In addition to there being several ways to achieve the mask, the word “subtract” makes things rather obvious.
I’m not sure if I can fully say I have “got it”. I have certainly found one way to do one thing. Now to find out what the rest of this box of frogs can do in the real world.
