Adobe’s August 2026 update for Lightroom quietly dropped one of the best masking improvements we’ve seen in a while. If you’ve ever fought with a mask edge that just wouldn’t blend right, this one’s for you.

What’s New

The big addition is feather and edge control for masks. You can now fine-tune exactly how soft or sharp the transition between your selection and the rest of the image looks — no more guessing or stacking extra adjustment layers just to smooth things out.

Why It Matters

Masking is one of those things you do in almost every edit, so small improvements here add up fast. Being able to control feather and edge directly on a mask means cleaner selections, more natural blending, and fewer workarounds — especially useful for portrait and landscape edits where a hard mask edge can ruin an otherwise great photo.

Watch the Full Breakdown

The video walks through everything above with timestamps, so you can jump straight to the part that’s relevant to you.