Frequency Separation technique not working?

[amaniiali_]

Hi,

I have been using this technique for a few years (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89AowdLeZUA&t=1s)

I successfully used this technique a few days ago, however - ever since then I have been trying to follow the steps and now nothing happens at all.

I am very confused why all of a sudden this technique is not working, I have tried to update my PS, it doesn't work - I even downgraded it to v21, and it did actually work, only once. And ever since then it hasn't worked again, I'm not sure what is going on, and it is really bugging me as this was working a few days ago.

Please could someone advise me! Also if anyone has the time, the technique only takes a few seconds, let me know if you are successful!

[mglush]

Hi! It sounds like you have two issues here.

First, what exactly in the Frequency Separationprocess isn't working? There are many steps to do and it's not clear where the breakdown is. Where do you get bogged down?

It also sounds like you have a second issue--that PS isn't working. Did you use the Uninstaller to go back? It sounds like something didn't get installed correctly and I would use the Uninstaller to get rid of the program and then do a clean install of the software. 

What version of Photoshop are you using? What platform (Mac/Windows) and what OS?

This will help us be more effective in assisting you.

Michelle

[amaniiali_]

Hey! Sorry I wasn't so clear.

So I follow all the steps in the video successfully until the last step is when I press OPTION & Add Layer Mask and the brush is selected- so when I'm on the last step and try to use the brush on my image, nothing happens.

OS- macOS Big Sur 11.2.1

Photoshop- First I used my original version which was 22.3, then  I downgraded to 21.2.6, however I then decided to do a clean install but again, same issue 😕

[mglush]

Are you using your brush on the image or on the mask? In the video, he creates a mask that hides the layer and then uses a brush with a foreground color of white to paint in the areas that he wants to be visible on the MASK. You need to make sure you are painting with white.  See if that works and let us know?

Michelle

[happie_97]

I agree. You need to ensure that mask is selected.

If you do have the mask selected and nothing is happening when you paint with the brush, I would also ensure you have the correct foreground color selected as you paint. If you paint with the same color as the mask, nothing will happen.

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

Also make sure your brush is on normal blend mode.

[amaniiali_]

Oh my! I realised my brush was on the wrong mode, this was the solution, thank you so much for all your help!

[Chuck Uebele]

Glad it was an easy fix.

[arunava_leo]

Frequency seperation is working fine on MAC but not on Windows!  Anyone has a fix?!

[davescm]

@arunava_leo  Check your  settings and steps carefully. It works on Windows here

Dave

[Chuck Uebele]

I'm not having problems either. What is it doing? Definitely do what @davescm said.

[Lumigraphics]

I have a saved action that I use cross-platform and its worked fine with every version of Photoshop since Frequency Separation was first developed (which IIRC was posted about 12 years ago or so in, of all places, Model Mayhem forums.)

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

@Lumigraphics 

Agreed. It seems like 99.9% of the time that someone has a problem with frequency separation on the forum, it turns out that the problem could have been avoided if they had automated the process using an action.

I first read about this back in 2001 at the Gamasutra website:

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/art/the-power-of-the-high-pass-filter