DxO PhotoLab 10 for Beginners: Dust, People Masks, Face Parts, Depth, and Color Grading

DxO PhotoLab 10 is not a revolution. It is a masking and cleanup update on top of PhotoLab’s existing strengths: optical modules, DeepPRIME noise reduction, and a folder-based library instead of a catalog. The headline additions are AI dust removal, individual people and face-part masks, Depth Masks, and a tone-based color grading wheel. All of it still runs locally. There is no subscription. If you shoot a lot of frames and hate repetitive spotting or clumsy group selections, version 10 is aimed at you. New customers can get 15% off with discount code EDALDRIDGE15.

Who this version is for

PhotoLab 10 helps most if you:

• Change lenses often and get sensor dust

• Need to lift one person out of a crowd without painting a mask

• Edit portraits and want separate control of skin, lips, teeth, and hair

• Want to darken or grade a background by distance, not by color

• Prefer a one-time license over Adobe’s subscription

It is less urgent if you only use PhotoLab for DeepPRIME and lens corrections. Those were already excellent.

Kill the dust first

Sensor spots used to be a batch-killer: same blob on 200 frames, cloned again and again.PhotoLab 10 adds AI dust removal at the RAW level. Open the tool, let it detect spots, tweak sensitivity if needed, then apply. Review in before/after. On dirty-sensor files from frequent lens changes, this can save a large shoot. Do not crank sensitivity so high that it starts “healing” texture that is not dust.Treat this as cleanup before creative work, not as a substitute for actually cleaning the sensor.

Pick one person in a crowd

Older AI masks often treated “people” as one blob. PhotoLab 10 can list individuals and let you mask Person 3 only, or combine selected people. Typical editorial use:

1. Run People detection.

2. Choose the subject who needs separation.

3. Add a small exposure lift and a touch of contrast.

4. Leave everyone else alone.

Keep it subtle. +0.15 EV and a little contrast is usually enough to make a subject read on a news or sports desk without looking retouched.

Face, not the whole body

Face segmentation is the portrait upgrade. You can now target face skin, lips, teeth, hair, and in official docs also eyes, eyebrows, iris, sclera, and facial hair. A restrained recipe that matches the video’s approach:

• Skin: slight warmth and a small lift

• Lips: a touch more saturation in the reds

• Teeth: gentle desaturation so they look clean, not neon

• Hair: tiny exposure change so it separates from the background

If the AI clips an ear or misses a stray lock of hair, refine with U Point or the new Control Brush instead of fighting the mask.

Depth Mask: edit by distance

Depth Masks build an AI depth map from a normal RAW. You do not need a phone depth map or dual-camera file. Click in the scene, then slide the near/far range until the mask covers the band you want. Invert it to work on the background. Good uses:

• Soften a Vegas fountain or city street behind a subject

• Add a little ClearView or contrast only to the far plane

• Darken a midground crowd without touching the person in front

This is not fake bokeh from nothing. It works best when the photo already has some depth of field and you want to enhance the separation.

Color grading without wrecking the file

PhotoLab 10 adds a tone-zone grading wheel: shadows, midtones, highlights, plus a global control. You can move the points independently or together. A simple starting point:

1. Apply a mild preset such as a blue-hour look if you need a base.

2. Push shadows cooler, midtones slightly warmer or pink, highlights restrained.

3. Save your own preset when it works.

The goal is mood, not a LUT stamped on every frame. If skin starts to look sick, pull the midtones back.

When AI misses: U Point is still the adult in the room

No mask is perfect. A numbered jersey, a thin strap, or a busy background can confuse detection. Drop a Control Point, resize it, and hold a modifier to make the shape asymmetrical if needed. New in 10: elliptical Control Points and a Control Brush, so you can paint or stretch the selection instead of living with a circle. Combine that with an AI mask when you only want the adjustment inside an already-detected person.

Should you upgrade?

Upgrade if you regularly:

• Spot dust

• Isolate people or faces

• Grade color by tone zone

• Want Depth Masks without leaving PhotoLab

Wait or stay on 9 if your workflow is “apply optics + DeepPRIME + export.” PhotoLab still does not replace a dedicated stitcher or focus-stacking app. There is a 30-day trial; that is the honest test. PhotoLab 10 is a faster local-adjustment version of a program that was already good at RAW quality. Use the new tools lightly. The software can now find dust, faces, and distance. Your job is still deciding how much is enough.