Caulks are one of the most basic building materials used in today's building and remodeling projects. However, the caulks themselves are highly advanced. The variety of caulking compounds available to the builder and homeowner today is almost overwhelming. There are caulks for stopping water and air infiltration, minimizing radon infiltration, sanitation purposes, temporary roof repairs, driveway and masonry wall crack filling, crack filling for painting and many other uses. Think of a use and caulk can probably "fill" it.
Your choices of caulk at the store will be mind blowing. Not every caulk works well for every job. There are caulks for porous and non-porous materials. Make sure you pick the right one.
Urethane caulks are a great way to deal with cracks that need to be painted. Silicone caulks do not accept paint or pigment. Urethane caulk will accept water and oil based paints. Be sure you wait the appropriate amount of drying time for the paint type you intend to use.
Beige masking tape is now just one of many job specific tapes on the market. Each of the colored masking tapes now has a different type of adhesive that keeps them from adhering forever to a surface. The tapes are labeled with the optimal amount of time you can leave them in place.