Figuring out why tool is not painting

[avpromedia]

Sometimes I switch to a new painting tool (e.g. paint brush, clone stamp, eraser), start painting and nothing happens.

I have to go through a check list of stuff:

is there a selection somewhere and I'm painting outside of it?

is the blending mode set wrong?

am I painting on the mask or the layer

is opacity set too low

etc.

Even though I've been using photoshop for a while, sometimes it still take a few seconds to figure out why the tool is not painting. Is there a more automatic way? Or is there a reset button that would reset all the above to default? How do you deal with this issue or avoid it?

[Omar.Fathy]

First you should make sure that you don't have a small selection that you are painting outside as you said because it is the common mistake.
In paint brush, make sure that all setting in the option bar are good or reset it.
In clone stamp, you need first to press Alt+Click the area that you need to clone then you can press click and drag to clone from.

In eraser tool and the all above, make sure that you select a regular layer not a smart object or locked layer in the layer panels.

You can also provide screenshots to be able to help you more.

[Semaphoric]

It's a bother, but I just make sure if have my target active, and try not to use Control+H.

Photoshop can't read my mind; how would it know if I intended to paint on the layer or the mask? Maybe i intended to paint with 10% opacity.

Answer is pretty much just work carefully.

[Chris 486]

Hi!

You could set up an action to set tools a certain way before you use them. Or create custom brushes etc with your settigns already applied. Those are some small thigns that may help get some of your tools setup a certain way.