A Deeper Look At Super Select AI In ON1 Photo RAW 2023

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Note: A pre-release version of Photo RAW 2023 is featured in this article The final product may be slightly different.

How To Use Super Select AI In Photo RAW 2023

Using Super Select AI in the Edit module of Photo RAW is very straightforward.

  1. Choose the Super Select AI tool from the tool well.

  2. Hover over areas of your photo. Segments and objects Super Select AI recognizes are highlighted in red.

  3. Click one or more areas to include in the selection. Areas you select to include get a blue overlay.

  4. Right click on the area you have selected and apply an Effect filter or adjustment.

That’s it! Super Select AI automatically creates a mask and adds the chosen adjustment to the filter stack. You can further adjust or tune the mask to your taste using the other ON1 masking tool.

Selecting a skyline with Super Select AI in ON1 Photo RAW

Applying an Effects filter using Super Select AI in Photo RAW

 
 

Super Select AI Is One Of Many Masking Tools

In my early testing of Super Select AI, it does very well with photos that have clear and prominent subjects. The AI is very good at detecting people, too. For scenes that have many smaller elements, Super Select Ai remains a useful tool… just know that it is not the only tool available to create a mask. For some scenes, like a “busy” landscape scene, Super Select AI may not be the best masking tool choice.

In this scene of mossy rocks in a river, I want to add a pop to the whitewash in the water. Super Select AI did not detect the right set of segments for me to select just the whitewash. Instead, a luminosity mask is the better choice. It is easier to select the brighter tonal areas than it was for the AI to detect all the nuanced objects.

Super Select AI can struggle to identify individual objects or segments in “busier” photos. (Note: I am using pre-release software and the final product is subject to change.)

Super Select AI can struggle to identify objects in a “busier” photograph. I was unable to select just the whitewash in this scene. (Note: I am using pre-release software and the final project is subject to change.)

A classic luminosity mask worked easily targeted an adjustment to the flowing water. Tonally, the water is bright making the luminosity mask a better choice over Super Select AI.

Super Select AI Is Awesome And You Will Use It

I find I am reaching for Super Select AI as the first masking tool for many of my photos. For a high number of my images, it makes light work of the masking I need to do and speeds up my editing workflow. I really like the on-screen approach ON1 has taken with the editing experience and Super Select AI.

And when Super Select AI isn’t the right tool for the job, ON1’s other masking tools are there to fill in the gaps.