The Awesome Power of Layer Masks

[oyster]

...I'm still confused. You've masked the *corrected* image; the spots are gone together with much of the detail. To recover the detail of the original minus the spots, you paint over the spots. in the mask of the corrected (Dust & Scratches) image. But there are no spots in this version to paint over! What am I missing?
Bob Bollini

[dungbeetle]

Keeping the actual task as simple as possible has payed dividends here.

It makes understanding how the technique actually works so much easier.

It's like we haven't been given a fish to eat; we've been taught how to fish

Nice one Vikki

[Cassidy]

You don't know how many times I have been through books etc which have failed to adequately explain layer masks. Instead I have been using layers upon layers to achieve the same thing and in a less than 3 minute read, I finally understand the concept of layer masks much better.

[Vikki]

Happy to hear my tutorial is helpful.
My goal was to take the fear and dread out of learning to use layer masks.
Thanks.