# Photo segmentation v1 — Mask

Click a photo and the subject lifts off it: each click drops a focus point, a segmentation model masks it, and the cut-out floats sharp above a blurred copy of its own scene.

Source: https://steevepommier.com/motion/photo-segmentation-v1-mask/
Section: Motion
Published: 2026-08-08
Tags: 2d, typography, interactive, hand-capture, segmentation, mediapipe

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A koala lifts clean off its own photograph and hangs pin-sharp over a blurred
full-bleed copy of the same scene, an optional drop shadow selling the float.
Clicks steer the cut: each click on the picture drops a focus point that masks
another zone, the subject on top is the union of every zone, and clicking a
marker's circle releases that zone again.

Each focus point runs through MediaPipe's interactive segmenter — point at a
pixel, get back a mask of whatever object owns it — one inference at a time,
cached per point. The binary union is then blurred and its alpha remapped
through a smoothstep whose centre pushes the edge in or out and whose width
sets the feather, so the rim can be grown, shrunk or softened without
re-running the model; the backdrop swaps between the untouched photo, a blur, a
dim veil or a flat colour.