getting message "no pixels selected"

[bartonlew]

Hi, Chuck Uebele, I am having a problem again with the gaussian blur method you showed me.  I am getting a message "no pixels selected" at the point where I have gone to the top layer element selection, selected the entire selection, and moved back to the copied background layer.  When I press control shift i at this point to invert the selection, I am getting the message "no pixels selected."  Despite having selected the top layer.  Do you know why?  Thanks.

[Chuck Uebele]

From what I can see, you selected the entire canvas and not the mailbox, so when you inverted the selection, there are no pixels selected.

[bartonlew]

I thought that painting on this layer would only select the selection, since that's all that's there.  Painting would not select the canvas.  That is how it's worked for me in the past.  I've just painted on the layer with a big brush and all that gets selected is the selection that has been copied to the layer.  Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

[Chuck Uebele · Accepted solution]

What do you mean by painting on the layer? Do you mean on the layer mask? If so, there are no layer masks in your screen shot. Your top layer does have transparency, so you should be able to ctrl-click on the thumbnail to make a good selection.

[bartonlew]

ctrl click - that worked.  Previously I had been going to the thumbnail and "painting" (my technically incorrect word for selecting) on the layer to get the mailbox.  That had worked previously but was not this time.  Thank you!

[Chuck Uebele]

Good, glad it's working now.

[bartonlew]

Chuck, this is a follow up question on this technique that involves a separate aspect.  Hope it's okay to not start as a new thread.

What happens if when clone stamping around your background layer, you bring in elements you don't really want included?  Here is an example.  In the first screen shot, only the original background layer is selected.  You can see the street sign appearing "correctly" in the top left corner.  In the 2nd screen shot, the outline of the mailbox has been clone stamped with the area just outside it according to the method you described in your youtube video using the example of the dog in grass.  But the street sign is now infringing on the mailbox.  This usually is not a problem particularly when the data is high up on the image where it's quite blurred as a result of using the linear gradient.  But if it's near the bottom of the gradient, it can present problems.  Is there any workaround for this, other than creative/selective  clone stamping around the subject in these areas?

[Chuck Uebele]

You just want to clone in far enough that the mailbox won't bleed into your blur. On you example, you just need to select a new clo e source that has leaves in it rather than the sign.

[bartonlew]

ok, thanks!