I have a genuine question, does VPN help mask/replace IP address so that your data can’t be traced?

I've been thinking a lot about digital privacy lately, especially with all the deepfakes, scraped photos, and random data leaks floating around. feels a bit overwhelming when even a casual picture in public can get reverse-searched. From what I've read, a solid VPN helps mask your real IP and handles DNS routing to keep things secure. but I'm trying to figure out what actually matters when setting one up at home, things like strict no-logs policies, leak protection, or protocols. What features should I actually focus on here? happy to look into it myself once I know what's worth paying attention to.