Ghost Image left behind When Using a Layer Mask Photoshop CC 2018

[Blue Baron II]

I have a picture that has a telephone pole in it that I want to remove.  I am using a layer mask to mask it out and reveal another layer to fill in the space.  However, after I mask out the pole, I can still see a ghost image of it in the picture.  I have check that my black is really black.  The mode is Normal. Opacity is 100%. Flow is 100%.  Smoothing is 10%, hardness is 91%.  I have the most recent version of photoshop, 19.0 version.  I have a Nvidia Quadro M4000 graphics card.  The driver is up to date.  The desktop is running Windows 10, has a Skylake processor and 32 GB of RAM.  I never noticed this problem before up dating Photoshop this week.

[JJMack]

Withou any screen capture we have no way to tell if your layer mask even looks like it may be a good mask.

[Blue Baron II · Accepted solution]

The problem went away after I increased the brush size.  I then went over the same area with the larger brush and realized the the smaller brush size had been putting down dark gray instead of black.  I was able to reduce the brush size again and it still worked.  I did not make any other changes.

[jeanned37920665]

I'm having the same problem.  All my settings are correct but I have a faint ghost of the background remaining after I use the layer mask.  I'm using Photoshop CC.  Using a different size brush does not make a difference. I also made certain it was putting down black with the brush.   Any suggestions?

[lenab91001182]

Me to, started today, 2 oct 2019.

[lenab91001182]

FOUND IT - Black was no longer black in the presetted choice... so strange! Anyway, it works now after setting the black to... black.

[horstroberts]

THANK YOU!! The same thing was happening to me.  So frustrating.  I so appreciate your sharing!

[kg.creative]

THANK YOU you just saved my night (and my deadline) 

[scorpio0798]

I am having the same problem and its doing my head in!! Have checked all settings and properties and all seem Ok.  Black is black opacity flow and smoothing all 100% (smoothing was 20% but increased it to see if it helped but it hasnt) have tried different brushes both hard and soft. Mode is normal but ghosting remains. Am using latest updated CC version. Any help would be gratefully appreciated. 

[scorpio0798]

You wont believe this but have rechecked that black was still black and it had changed to 35,35,35. Have changed it back again to zero and now OK. Grrrrrrrr!!!!!!

[jeanned37920665]

I've got ito the habit of always checking my black now.  You can't be sure if it's changed sometimes. 🙂

[Gates Graphix]

I'm suddenly experiencing mask layer ghosting! I've checked my settings with the information in this discussion and can't find the reason for this issue. I've attached a screenshot of the issue and my settings.

[Carl2733397545i1]

One thing to do is to check brush settings if you have Wet Edges checked, uncheck it and that my fix your problem. 🙂

[clairev11778540]

I was having this exact issue and it was driving me mad. See attached screen shot of the brush menu bar - toggle off the icon I've highlighted in red . It's a setting to do with the pressure of the brush - somehow this had been turned on in my settings, finding this and clicking it off solved the issue. Phew! Hope this helps someone elses sanity.