Known Participant

Question

Dodge/Burn and Masks not working correctly

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 7, 2020
2 replies
6269 views

When I dodge and burn it seems to have a mind of its own. For example, if you are dodging with a white brush it will dodge until you click the mouse and then it will burn. The same thing happen if you paint with black. Also, the mask on that layer will not continually update unless you click on another layer - you can see either the white or black marks change on the mask as you do this. I've already re-installed PS CC and nothing has changed. I'm using a PC with plenty of storage and ram and I'm using Windows 10. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the help!

Problem or error

This topic has been closed for replies.

K

kurth99Author

Known Participant

To clarify some things: When I say paint white I mean to use the white brush to dodge/lighten an area. With black I will be be burning/darkening an area.

Also, this function has worked perfectly for months and months. The other day it just started to happen out of the blue. I did two re-installs and checked for updates but it is still doing the same thing.

I can take the photo into Camera Raw and do the dodge/burn edits and bring it back into PS but, as you know, it's very clunky and I lose any masking ability as well as any sanity I may have. I hope that gives you some useful info.....

K

kurth99Author

Known Participant

Problem solved! My layer mode was defaulting to "Difference". Not sure how that came about but it now works normally. If you would like to re-create my issue for fun add a layer mask to a curve layer and up top change the mode to difference. Very weird. I've added the issue to my notes so next time I will be able to look it up and not bother anyone.

Thanks to all that replied with suggestions!

-Kurt

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi @kurth99

You may have accidentally used the keyboard shortcut to change to "Difference". Here is the list:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/using/keys-using-blending-modes.html

Difference

Shift + Alt + E

Shift + Option + E

I'm glad it's sorted now!

~ Jane

War Unicorn

Community Expert

Not sure what's going on there; when I use the Dodge or Burn Tool, they act as expected on a mask and don't switch in function.

I know of the issue of layer thumbnails not updating immediately but that was fixed a few versions ago. Maybe video driver related?

(Also, they're not calling using the appendix "CC" anymore; it's just called "Photoshop 2021" at this point. I'm kind of relieved about that; it's pretty obvious all the apps use Creative Cloud now.)

jane-e

Community Expert

@War Unicorn

The Dodge and Burn tools do not use the Black and White swatches. The OP is most likely using a non-destructive method on a separate layer set to the Overlay Blending mode.

@kurth99

Look here and see if one of these tutorials helps. If not, please tell us your exact method so we can try to reproduce it.

https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/dodge-burn/

https://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1854708&seqNum=8

~ Jane

War Unicorn

Community Expert

Right, my mistake; I meant to clarify: Both those tools normally "paint" as if an image existed, destructively (which was more or less their intent). Painting on a mask assumes grayscale value; in Dodge's case, white. Burn assumes black. The Exposure setting specifies intensity of those two shades.

I thought it was a weird way, to be honest, but didn't think about it due to haste. xD

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded