Painting on Mask

[nebgranny]

I am trying to retouch my g randdaughters picture. I have grouped a few layers, then added a mask . I am now trying to paint on the mask with a white brush and it will not let me. Can someone suggest what might be happening ? Thanks Neb

[Sanda]

you inverted the selections right?

[Peter S]

Also you can make sure you have deselected the selection as well??

[nebgranny]

Well I guess I will embarass myself and say..I do not have anything selected to invert or deselect. I thought you could just make the mask active and paint on it ?? What am I missing?? Thanks Neb

[Peter S]

Try Alt clicking the mask icon to show only the mask on screen, then try painting with white on the black parts and black on the white. (hope that makes sense)
If you see you brush stokes PS is doing what it should and your problem may be that what you are trying to reveal from underneath is just the same as the layer with the mask on? (again I hope that makes sense)

Lots of luck

Peter

[bart_hickman]

I have a dumb question: Are you using Photoshop or Paintshop Pro?

Bart

[Kraellin]

neb,

you mentioned grouping layers and masks in the same breath. that suggests to me that you may have the header layer highlighted instead of the actual mask layer. or, it may be that you have another layer showing somewhere above the mask layer and even though you are painting in the mask layer, you dont see it. also, i've noticed in psp that you dont actually see the mask, even if you have the mask highlighted. you only see the effect. it's like painting with invisible crayons. you can see the mask if you put your mouse cursor over the layer; the thumbnail will pop up of the layer and then you can see the mask.

craig

[nebgranny]

Bart ..right now I am usung photoshop. Sorry to confuse you. I will post which program I am using from now on as I go back and forth sometimes. But am trying to learn photoshop so trying to use it more. !

Craig...I am reading your post right after this post to Bart. Going off as have company so will check it out tomorrow. Neb






Neb

[bart_hickman]

For photoshop:

To edit the mask while seeing the effects of what you are doing, click on the little rectangle that represents the mask in the layer palette and start painting. You can tell when the mask is selected for editing because it has a highlight on it. Alternatively, go to the channel palette and select the mask from there.

To edit the mask while looking at the mask itself, alt-click the little rectangle like Peter mentioned. Alternatively, go to the channel palette, turn off the color channels, turn on the mask and select it.

Just a little warning about layer groups in Photoshop. The default blend mode is "Pass Through". That means the effects of adjustment layers work on ALL layers below the current layer--not just those within the group. I think in most cases, the "normal" blend mode is what you'd want--that constrains all adjustments to within the group which is the default behavior in Paintshop Pro. I just mention this in case you're used to groups in PSP.

Bart

[Cameraken]

Hi Neb.

There are three good tutorials on layer masks in Photoshop here.

The basics by Doug
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=27

Understanding Layer masks by Flora
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=166

Awesome power by Vikki
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=63

Hope these help

Ken

[Peter S]

Another thing to check is the opacity/fill settings for the brush you ar using, if set too low it would take a lot of brush strokes to see anything, possibly.

Peter

[nebgranny]

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts on what might be wrong with using the mask function. I just can not figure out why it would not work with that try. Ken I have used the mask tutorial written by Vikki and that is how I first heard about them. I started over on my picture and it worked and did help but did not give the retouch result I desired.

I suspect the whole problem may be the group step, I am not very familiar with doing that and was following a tutorial. I might have missed a step or something.

This post is to say thank you yo everyone who took the time to help. Even though I did not get this one figured out I learned a lot via all the information posted.

I think I will post the image I wish to restore, I can not post the whole picture of my granddaughter , she asked me not to, so I need to respect that, but I can post a portion of her complection that I am trying to retouch. It is small file but maybe you cansee what I am trying to work on.Maybe someone can suggest another way to help get a nice natural look to her face. Neb

I am going to look in the search section for a retouch tutorial.

[bart_hickman]

Are you trying to smooth out the skin? Ro's tutorial on skin smoothing is just the trick!

Bart

[Cameraken]

Hi Neb.

I used Rô’s Degrunge Tutorial

http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=213

(I did it the Long way – There is a quick Way in the Tutorial)

I have attached my layers with the numbers I used

Hope this helps.

Ken

[Cameraken]

Hi Neb.

Thanks for the PM’s
Here are three more ways to do the same thing

Picture 1
Paint

1) create a blank layer above the picture
2) Sample a colour next to the blemish
3) paint with a soft brush at low opacity over the blemishes
I used a brush size of 27 set at 40% opacity to paint over the blemishes and then reduced the opacity further to blend in
4) Add noise to match picture - Filter > Noise > Add Noise – Amount = 1
Nancy made a tutorial here
http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=191


Picture 2
Use the Healing tool

1) Duplicate the picture
2) Use the Healing tool to repair the blemishes
There is a tutorial here
http://www.arraich.com/ref/aatool_healBrush6.htm

Method 3)
Use the Spot Healing tool

Is PSCS there is a new Spot Healing tool (I don’t have this in PS7)
I can’t tell you how to use this but it should do the job.
You will need to read the help files


Hope these help

Ken

[nebgranny]

Thanks Ken, really good information. I am trying them now. Neb