Erasing an area and unerasing

[DavePinMinn]

Windows 11 Pro, Photoshop 25.1.0

This HAS to be something dumb I'm missing...  I looked at the "how to use" and some other topics with a similar question, and I'm still not sure...

I have a background layer with an image on it.  I put another layer above it and want to erase small, detailed, irregular areas so the lower layer shows through....

Eraser tool, right?  In all the years of doing this I'd just take the eraser and erase what I needed.  But THIS time, it's irregular and fiddly enough that I need to UNERASE where I've made errors.

I tried holding Alt while using the eraser but that doesn't work.

I put a mask on the upper layer and used the regular brush tool to paint black on the mask to show through and white where I needed to correct my erasing.  That pretty much works.

BUT, it SEEMS to me that I should be able to do an erase and an unerase using the Eraser tool or SOMETHING.  Am I wrong, and the best way to do fiddly stuff is just to use the regular brush on the mask?

[Trevor.Dennis]

Hi Dave

I wonder if you are mis-remembering how you did this before.  We almost never use the erase tool in Photoshop.  We use masks.  I have added a layer mask to the Yellow layer, and filled half of that mask with black.  That has hidden (masked) the yellow showing the Red layer beneath it.  Remember 'Black conceals, white reveals.'

[Trevor.Dennis]

You could have 'undone' your use of the eraser tool using the history panel, or the shortcut Ctrl z (Cmd z).  Best not to use the eraser though.  If you use a mask and close the file as a layered .psd file, then you could open it any time in the future and undone the masking.  When you use the erase tool and close the document, what you erased is gone forever.

[DavePinMinn]

I wound up using a mask.

But ctrl+z doesn't help in this case.  IF I used the Erase, I'd be moving around and erasing areas.  I DON'T want to undo the whole stroke, just be able to do something like hold down alt and be able to go over a small piece of the erased area and UNerase just that little bit. 

I know there's always a half dozen ways to do things in Photoshop, I was hoping this was one where I could easily erase and clean up any small errors with the same tool.

I'll use the mask and brush tool.