Adjustment layer mask not fully eliminating effects

[Premiereproblems!]

Hi there - I'm running into an issue with adjustment layers and masking and hoping someone might have a suggestion. My understanding was that if I add an adjustment layer, I could paint on it with black to eliminate sections of the picture that I don't want the adjustment layer to impact. In this case - I am doing a Selective Colour adjustment layer and want to paint over the portion of the picture with the people so that they aren't impacted by my colour adjustments. When I click on the adjustment layer and paint on it with black - it appears, but shows as grey and seems to be removing only part of the adjustment (the colour of the people are still being impacted, but not quite as much as the parts of the image that aren't 'black' on the adjustment layer). My opacity settings for both the layer and the brush are 100%. Anyone with an idea about why this might be? Thank you so much!

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@Premiereproblems! – What is the blend mode and or fill opacity setting? Please post a cropped screenshot of the layers panel with all relevant details visible.

[josephlavine]

If possible, please share a screen capture showing your layers panel. I assume that along with the brush's opacity being 100%, so is the flow.

warmly/j

[davescm]

You mention the opacity settings of the brush, check also:

The flow setting

The brush blend mode (in the options bar)

The hardness of the brush - remember a soft brush is not painting solid black all the way across

The colour (check that it is actually RGB 0,0,0 and not a dark gray)

Dave