a group of Adjusment layers?

[jimh12345]

I'm confused on a basic point.

I want a set of Adjustments to share a mask, so they all affect the same part of the image.  I create a couple of Adjustment layers and a Mask layer, select them all, right-click, and... there's no option to Group them.   Surely there has to be a way to have some Adjustments share a mask.  But it seems the Group option is only there if I select a Pixel layer.   

[Old Bruce]

I have always used the Command + G group keyboard shortcut for grouping, never noticed the Group in the Context menu. But it is there in the context menu here on Mac OS 11.7 

[Brian_J]

When multiple layers are selected, if the top layer is an adjustment layer or mask, the right-click context menu doesn't include Group (and a number of other options). You can use the keyboard shortcut like Old Bruce suggested or the menu Layer > Group.

[jimh12345]

Ok, so this is just a bug - the right-click menu is missing "Group" in this case. Thanks guys.

I used Layer/New Group, and dragged the adjustments into the new group.  That worked. 

 

But now I have several adjustments with redundant masks, and there does not seem to be a way to delete those adjustment masks - I guess I have to explicitly paint them all white.... 😞

[Brian_J]

7 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

But now I have several adjustments with redundant masks, and there does not seem to be a way to delete those adjustment masks - I guess I have to explicitly paint them all white.

I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to accomplish. To delete a mask, simply select it and delete it. Does that not do the job?

[jimh12345]

When you explicitly create a mask layer, it's like any other layer, you can delete it.  But when you create a mask just by painting black and white on an adjustment layer, you get a "mask" that isn't a "mask layer" and there's apparently no way to get rid of it.  

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

But when you create a mask just by painting black and white on an adjustment layer, you get a "mask" that isn't a "mask layer" and there's apparently no way to get rid of it.  

All adjustment layers have built in masks, so you cannot get rid of them. However, that does not prevent you from filling them with solid black to 'unmask' any masking effects already applied to them.

[Brian_J]

5 minutes ago, jimh12345 said:

When you explicitly create a mask layer, it's like any other layer, you can delete it.  But when you create a mask just by painting black and white on an adjustment layer, you get a "mask" that isn't a "mask layer" and there's apparently no way to get rid of it.  

Ah, I get it. I've never painted a mask directly onto an adjustment layer... didn't realize that was possible. Applying a mask layer to an adjustment layer does provide more freedom to make changes.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Brian_J said:

Applying a mask layer to an adjustment layer does provide more freedom to make changes.

How so? Either way, it is a mask & responds to painting on it with a brush or with the Fill tool.

[Brian_J]

7 minutes ago, R C-R said:

How so? Either way, it is a mask & responds to painting on it with a brush or with the Fill tool.

Yep, disregard my last statement… I had a temporary brain freeze.

[jimh12345]

Once you use the "built-in" mask by painting on it, you can't stop seeing it as a thumbnail attached to the Layer.  It's just a little distracting.