A practical guide to control points, AI Depth Mask, AI object selection, reusable masks, clearer overlays, and why masking is one of the most important upgrades in Nik Collection 9.
If there is one part of the Nik Collection 9 update that most clearly improves real-world editing, it is masking. Version 9 is not just about new creative effects. It is also about giving those effects better placement. That matters because the strongest edit is rarely the one that hits the entire frame evenly. The strongest edit is usually the one that knows exactly where the treatment should live and where it should stay out of the way.
Nik has long been associated with control points and selective adjustment, but Nik Collection 9 pushes that idea further with AI-assisted tools. The new AI Depth Mask helps build selections according to depth in the image. AI object selection makes it easier to isolate a subject. Clearer overlays make it easier to inspect the mask. Reusable masks let you carry one local decision into another filter instead of rebuilding everything. Altogether, that makes version 9 feel much more precise and much more usable.
If local control and masking are the reasons Nik Collection 9 interests you most, you can use my code above for 15% off. I’ve kept it near the top because this is a high-intent upgrade page for people already looking closely at the new features.
This launch short gives the quick overview, but the page below is for photographers specifically researching what has changed around control points, masking, and local adjustments in Nik Collection 9.
Creative effects only become truly useful when you can place them properly. That is what makes the version 9 masking update so important.
The challenge with any strong creative tool is that it can overpower an image if it is not controlled carefully. Glow, contrast, colour shifts, tonal mood, texture, atmosphere, monochrome emphasis, and stylised filters can all look impressive in theory, but if they are not placed with some discipline, they can flatten the image or make it feel heavy-handed. Masking is what prevents that.
Nik Collection 9 improves the masking side of the workflow by offering more than one path to a local selection. Instead of relying only on older selection logic, users now have access to AI Depth Mask and AI object selection, plus clearer overlay visibility and reusable masks between filters. That makes local work much more practical, especially when you want to build more layered edits or compare different finishing directions without recreating everything from zero.
Control points are still part of the Nik identity, but version 9 expands the local editing toolkit around them.
Control points have long been one of the defining ideas inside Nik. They give photographers a way to influence selected areas of the image without manually painting everything from scratch. That concept remains important in Nik Collection 9, but the suite no longer depends on it alone. Instead, control points now sit alongside newer AI-assisted masking tools that broaden how local adjustments can be approached.
That is a positive change because it makes the software more adaptable. Some images respond well to traditional point-based selective control. Others benefit more from subject-based selection or depth-based separation. Nik Collection 9 is stronger because it allows those different methods to coexist, which gives photographers more freedom to choose the approach that actually fits the image instead of forcing one method onto every problem.
Still useful for selective local influence and still part of what makes Nik feel like Nik, especially when shaping specific areas of tone or colour with speed.
Version 9 extends local editing beyond classic control points with new ways to isolate subjects and depth zones more intelligently.
These are the features that most clearly change how local adjustments work in the suite.
This lets you build a mask according to spatial depth in the image. It is especially useful when you want an effect to live in the foreground, mid-ground, or background more naturally.
This makes it easier to isolate a subject quickly so you can target the treatment more selectively without manually brushing everything in from scratch.
Version 9 improves mask visibility, including black-and-white style views, which makes it easier to understand exactly where an effect is landing.
Once you create a useful selection, you can copy and paste that mask to another filter instead of rebuilding the same local logic repeatedly.
Blend modes inside the suite make local effects feel more connected to layered editing logic, which is especially useful when combining multiple treatments.
Faster preset comparison means local decisions can be tested more fluidly without breaking the visual rhythm of the edit.
The best local edits usually begin with one question: where should the effect live, and where should it stay out of the way?
A good way to approach Nik Collection 9 is to think in terms of treatment zones. Instead of asking which effect looks coolest, ask where the effect actually belongs. Does the mood need to sit in the background? Should the subject stay cleaner while the atmosphere builds elsewhere? Does a monochrome push need to land globally, or should it mainly affect certain tonal areas? Once you think in those terms, the new masking tools make much more sense.
Control points remain useful when you want targeted influence in a fast, classic Nik way. AI object selection is useful when the subject is the obvious focus. AI Depth Mask becomes especially valuable when the scene has strong spatial separation and you want the effect to feel dimensional instead of flat. The overlay views are what help you judge all of this more confidently. The strongest final image usually comes from using the right masking method for the problem rather than using the same one every time.
Fast selective adjustments when you already know the local area you want to influence and want a more classic Nik-style workflow.
Subject-led editing where the main person or object clearly needs a different treatment from the surrounding frame.
Scenes with clear foreground and background separation where the treatment should respect visual depth and atmospheric distance.
This might sound like a small feature, but it completely changes how efficient the suite feels when you are building layered edits.
In older creative workflows, a local adjustment could become frustrating because even if you had already worked hard to define the right area, that work often lived only in the context of one effect. If you wanted to try another treatment on the same part of the image, you could end up rebuilding the same local logic all over again. Nik Collection 9 improves that by allowing masks to be copied and pasted between filters.
That means your local decision now has more value. Once you have correctly identified the part of the frame that should carry the treatment, that mask becomes something you can build on rather than something disposable. In real use, that makes the whole suite feel more modular, more consistent, and much faster when you are experimenting with layered finishing.
One good selection can now support several treatments, which saves time and reduces the friction of trying alternative directions.
When the same local logic carries across multiple filters, the finished image often feels more intentional and more structurally consistent.
These improvements matter most for photographers who care about selective mood, local atmosphere, and a cleaner visual hierarchy.
Portrait photographers benefit because they often need the subject and the surroundings to behave differently. Travel and street photographers benefit because depth-based atmosphere and localised emphasis can shape a scene more convincingly. Monochrome users benefit because control over where tonal weight sits is often critical to the final image. And more experimental creators benefit because stronger effects become much more usable when they can be confined more carefully.
In short, anyone who wants the final image to feel more deliberate rather than more random will probably appreciate what Nik Collection 9 does with masking. That is why this part of the update is arguably more important than any one single filter.
A few of the most common questions around local editing in version 9.
Yes. Control points are still part of the suite, but version 9 expands local editing with AI-assisted masking tools such as AI Depth Mask and AI object selection.
It is a masking tool that builds selections based on spatial depth in the image, helping effects sit more naturally in the foreground, mid-ground, or background.
Yes. One of the practical workflow upgrades in version 9 is that masks can be copied and pasted between filters, which reduces repeated work.
Because clearer overlays reduce guesswork. You can inspect exactly where the effect is landing before deciding whether the local treatment is right.
This page focuses on masking and local control, but it is part of a wider Nik Collection 9 content hub built around different user questions and search intent.
The central launch page linking all Nik Collection 9 support pages together in one place.
A deeper page on flexibility, reusability, and why version 9 feels less locked-in than older creative workflows.
A page focused on how Nik Collection 9’s masking and blend logic fit into a Photoshop-led finishing workflow.
Use my code SIMONSONGHURST for 15% off if you want to test the updated masking workflow in your own images. If you want more context first, head back to the main Nik 9 hub and continue through the rest of the linked pages.
