Selection problem

[Chimes]

Hi, I'm trying to select a small feature of my photo to make brighter(moon) so I zoom in, click selection brush tool, then go to work with selecting.  However, I can never get this quite right, so I select "invert selection" to go at selecting the shape from the other side.  A soon as I try to use it and touch on the edges of my selection the whole thing vanishes.  Basically, this means I can only select the shape from inside of it and my hand just isn't steady enough to get this right, so the task cannot be done.  Is this a limitation of this tool when it comes to making smaller selections in a photo?  Is there a way around this?  Or can it simply not be done, so I can't brighten a moon in the sky of my picture?

IMG_5526.CR2

[MEB]

Hi Chimes,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Use the Elipse Tool to create a perfect circle (a shape with no fill so you can position and scale it correctly over the moon), then go to menu Layer > Convert To Curves to convert the shape to curves (this step is necessary so you can convert the curves to a selection), then switch to the Pen Tool and click the Selection button in the context toolbar to convert the curves to a selection. Feather (menu Select > Feather) the selection a little bit if needed to smooth out the edges. You should then have a good starting point to work with.

[carl123]

Add a Brightness / Contrast layer to your image.

Max out the brightness and contrast sliders

Use Layer > Invert on the Brightness / Contrast Layer so it has no effect on the image.

Zoom in and with a zero hardness white brush paint over the moon (make sure the Brightness / Contrast layer is still selected as you are painting on its in-built mask)

Finally, adjust the Opacity of the Brightness / Contrast Layer and its sliders to fine-tune the results  

 

 

[Max P]

Hi
interesting question,  we must find the solution in accordance with our way of thinking ...

 

 with MEB solution (thanks for the explanation)
 at the end of the process I think is easier Use the CTRL M  curve   go LAB > L
   here is more efficient Increase the slope. Logic   You can play with mode here add , but...

[Chimes]

Thanks folks but now the elipse selection tool won't scale down to the size of the moon(like it did before) and just disappears when I take my hand of the drag.  The selection stays when it's over a certain size but I can't refine the shape to fit because it's too big.   I've had enough, if the tools won't even work consistently, instructions are pointless so I give up.