decontaminate colors

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
June 15, 2017
6 replies
18260 views

For PS CC2017, the output "decontaminate colors" box remains gray and will NOT let me selct it. I cannot find an answer to this problem after 2 days of searching online including tutorials, so this appears to be not a common problem but it is my problem. Can anyone give me an answer??? please??

Correct answer davescm

If you are on a pixel layer and not on a shape layer as pointed out by Barbara in post 3, if you still can't get the option try resetting Select & Mask. With Select and Mask open go to the top right and click the down arrow then choose Reset Select & Mask.

Hopefully that will allow you to choose the option.

However - Decontaminate colors is not good, it is destructive, and rarely works well.

A better, non destructive, and much more controllable method is :

Add an empty layer above your masked layer and Alt click on the border, in the layers panel, to clip this new layer to the masked layer.

Set the new layer blending mode to color

Now get a soft brush and using color from the image (Alt click to pick up color) brush round the contaminated edges. The clipping mask will ensure it only paints on the edge of the image and does not overflow

Dave

josephn49235588

Participant

Well, having read all of the replies, even the "correct" one (not sure who decided that), I still had the problem as described by the original post. So, rather than try to tell you what not to do, like some of these people, I'll tell you how to get the stupid grayed out "Decontaminate Colors" box to come alive:

While inside of the "select and mask" option, take a look at the upper left side of your screen. You should see a box called "Sample All Layers". Make sure that it is unchecked! That's all it takes...magic.

And by the way, it worked for me, destructive or not...

J

jacobd36003614

Participant

Thanks. Works well.

Jacob

davescm

Correct answer

Community Expert

If you are on a pixel layer and not on a shape layer as pointed out by Barbara in post 3, if you still can't get the option try resetting Select & Mask. With Select and Mask open go to the top right and click the down arrow then choose Reset Select & Mask.

Hopefully that will allow you to choose the option.

However - Decontaminate colors is not good, it is destructive, and rarely works well.

A better, non destructive, and much more controllable method is :

Add an empty layer above your masked layer and Alt click on the border, in the layers panel, to clip this new layer to the masked layer.

Set the new layer blending mode to color

Now get a soft brush and using color from the image (Alt click to pick up color) brush round the contaminated edges. The clipping mask will ensure it only paints on the edge of the image and does not overflow

Dave

Vishu_Aggarwal

Participating Frequently

Please post a screenshot and version of PS cc 2017 i.e. 2017.1.1 is my current version of photoshop CC 2017.

You can also try to open the select and mask as a popup which might help -

Go to the Select and Mask option in the menu bar. Hold down the shift key and click on Select and Mask. The Refine Edge/Mask panel will pop up instead of the opening the Select and Mask workspace. Trying using decontaminate colors with slider.

Vishu AggarwalAdobe Certified Instructor, Professional and Expert