Adobe Lightroom masking in Premiere? Yes please!

Not a lot surprises me when it comes to AI-powered photo editing tools nowadays, because the technology has advanced so far, so quickly. But the same can’t be said for AI-powered video editing tools. That’s why I’m so intrigued by the announcement at Adobe Max 2025, today, that Adobe Premiere is getting Adobe Lightroom-style masking options, including one that uses artificial intelligence to select people and objects in video footage.

The Object Mask Tool allows you to instantly select your chosen person/object, which will then shroud them in a mask overlay that stays with them as they move about the frame. With the object selected, you’re then free to locally color grade, blur, and add effects to the background. You can see this in action via the video (above).

The reason why I’m so excited by the prospect of this tool is that – assuming it works as intended – it’ll be a huge time saver. The manual alternative is rotoscoping, an extremely time-consuming process that requires the video editor to select the object in question frame by frame.

I’ve never professed to be the biggest fan of generative AI in the world, but non-generative tools like this are where I can hop aboard the AI hype train. It’s a solution to a laborious process that does almost nothing to encroach on creative autonomy. It’s the video-editing equivalent of a paint sprayer – it’s designed to help out the creative and get the job done.

That’s not all, Adobe is also introducing the Ellipse Mask Tool, Rectangle Mask Tool, and Pen Mask Tool, so video creatives can target local adjustments, add effects, and make corrections more precisely. Finally, the Fast Vector Mask function is said to offer “faster tracking, bi-directional tracking and 3D perspective tracking.”

It can sometimes feel like Adobe is putting all of its artificial eggs into the Firefly basket. But as a creative, these are the types of advancements I want to see most: practical AI tools that solve laborious day-to-day editing processes in the company's flagship software suites.

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