paste special - paste into in Photoshop

[8oakwood]

Why doesn't it work?  It has been working fine up to now, but suddenly seized up.  I've made several attempts.  I'm using Photoshop 21.1.4 and have a Creative Cloud account.

[jane-e]

Hi @8oakwood 

What are your exact steps? What happens when it "doesn't work"?

~ Jane

[8oakwood]

Hi Jane

Using the magic wand I'm trying to replace the sky on image 1 with another
sky (image 2).

I've marked the sky area I wish to replace on image 1 with Magic Wand.
Using Select and Mask, I've refined the edge and saved the mask. Exit
image 1 and go to image 2 (the sky replacement) - Select All, Control A
and Control C. exit. Return to image 1 and choose Edit - Paste Special -
Paste Into (but only Paste in Place is the only option available).

I'm frustrated by this as I achieved a successful replacement earlier but
fiddled about trying to get the exact placement with Free Transform and
can't repeat. (I've tried Sky Replacement but this wasn't as successful as
my first attempt.)

Jenny

[jane-e]

"I've refined the edge and saved the mask."

At this step, did you create a mask (as you said) or did you choose "Selection" when you exited Select and Mask?

To use Paste Into, you need to have a selection, then when you choose Paste Into PS will create a layer mask.

https://creativepro.com/creativepro-tip-of-the-week-pasting-into-photoshop-selection/

The mask and image are not linked by default when you use paste into, so you can Transform or Move either the mask or the image. Once you are happy with both, click the empty space between them to link them so they move and scale as a unit.

~ Jane

[8oakwood]

Thank you, Jane.

That worked - eventually!

Jenny