Erasing in an Adjustment Layer

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 28, 2020
5 replies
1607 views

Im teaching my students the very quick way to add a pop of color to a black and white photo with using a Black & White Adjusment Layer and the eraser tool. It is working with no problems on every students computer except one. On this particular student's computer....it will not allow me to erase or even use the lasso tool or anything to select an area to delete. Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this? I have restarted and I have checked her PS preferences against a working one, just to see if there is something there that is different but I have not seen anything. Any help at all would be appreciated.

Problem or error

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

Hi

I think about it this way.

When adding an adjustment layer it comes with a mask, by defaut it's filled with white, so it does nothing. Basically "a white mask allows the adjustment through onto the content below in the layer stack".

A black mask blocks the adjustment entirely.

It's good to think about this process being all about either adding masking [by painting with black] within a white layer mask (that’s the default) - Or removing masking [by painting with white] in parts of a black layer mask.

The layer mask refreered to is the one associated with the adjustment layer.

Basically adding black to the default white mask "blocks" the effect from the underlying content. I'd rather learn it that way than by thinking of erasing.

Maybe the issue is to do with layer mask presence or perhaps selecting the mask to make it active?

I hope this helps

thanks

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net

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