A 'local color image mask' is a technique used in image editing to maintain the original colors of certain areas in an image while adjusting others. This is often done to blend images seamlessly or to apply effects selectively. To preserve local color in an image mask, one would typically use layer masks in software like Photoshop or GIMP. These tools allow users to create a mask where only certain parts of the image are affected by adjustments, thus retaining the original color information of those areas.