AP paintbrush issue

[Fivel]

I may be doing the color picking wrong, but after selecting the color (from the photo background),

the paintbrush shows the wrong color. It worked well last week, but has this issue now.

When I use the same tools in Photoshop Elements (MAC), it selects the color (picker tool) with just a click and the brush tool applies it properly.

I hope this is an easy fix.

Thanks again for a rest app.

 

Fivel

 

[Madame]

The first thing to do/check is to click the small dot/colour well on the left right side of the colour swatches.
See if the foreground colour changes to the colour you want?

[Fivel]

Madame, thank you for your reply. Let me add some specifics to my issue.

I do astrophotography and would like to use AP to clean up around the edges of stars.

To do this I first select the Color Picker tool to select the color of the background sky. The I use either the Paintbrush tool or the Healing tool.

The paintbrush tool does not use the color from the Picker. The Healing brush does not allow me to clean up around the edges of the stars.

[Fivel]

Madame, thank you for your reply. Let me add some specifics to my issue.

I do astrophotography and would like to use AP to clean up around the edges of stars.

To do this I first select the Color Picker tool to select the color of the background sky. The I use either the Paintbrush tool or the Healing tool.

The paintbrush tool does not use the color from the Picker. The Healing brush does not allow me to clean up around the edges of the stars.

[Fivel]

Sorry for the double post, my browser went crazy.

 

Fivel

[Madame]

I'm sorry I couldn't help. So it didn't make any difference to tick the colour well?

And did you make sure that it's a pixel layer you are working on, not an image layer or adjustment layer?

 

Have you checked the context toolbar of the brush? Opacity, blendmode and so on?

[Fivel]

Madame, yes I did check all the brush properties.

As to using a pixel layer, last week it worked fine with Photo Persona.

As I mentioned, the color I need to choose is the sky color of the astro image.

What the Paintbrush chooses on it's own, is some light grayish color.

It is so light that it is obvious and does not come remotely close to the night sky color.

 

Fivel

[R C-R]

After you used the picker, did you click on the small circle indicated by the arrow in Madame's screenshot? You must do that to set the brush color to the picked one.

 

Alternately, you can alt/option click & drag with the Paint Brush tool selected to pick a paint color, without having to use the picker in the Studio panels at all.

 

Also, make sure you have a pixel layer (indicated by a "(Pixel)" suffix in the Layers panel) selected. Just being in Photo Persona does not automatically make anything a pixel layer. You may have an image layer (indicated by (Image)" in the layers panel) selected instead.

[Fivel]

Hi R-C-R. Thanks for more clarification.

Here is where my issue is now:

1. I have no problems when using a JPEG imag

2. I need to learn how to open a Pixel Layer, I could not find that in the Layers menus

3 When I see the circle, then use the Paintbrush tool, many times the painted color does not match what was in the circle.

I will try the other methods you suggested.

 

Fivel

[- S -]

I do astrophotography and would like to use AP to clean up around the edges of stars.

 

To do this I first select the Color Picker tool to select the color of the background sky. The I use either the Paintbrush tool or the Healing tool.

The paintbrush tool does not use the color from the Picker.

The Healing brush does not allow me to clean up around the edges of the stars.

 

What the Paintbrush chooses on it's own, is some light grayish color.

It is so light that it is obvious and does not come remotely close to the night sky color.

 

I have no problems when using a JPEG image

 

Are the images you're editing stacked layers?  I.E. You went to File > New Stack to stack the astro images on top of each other (and the Live Stack Group mode is set to 'Total')?

[R C-R]

2. I need to learn how to open a Pixel Layer, I could not find that in the Layers menus

As I said, pixel layers are indicated by the suffix "(Pixel)" in the Layers panel. You can't "open" them -- they are already open as a layer in the document. If you see "(Image)" as a suffix instead, you can convert the layer to a pixel layer by right clicking on the layer & choosing "Rasterize" from the popup menu.

3 When I see the circle, then use the Paintbrush tool, many times the painted color does not match what was in the circle.

 

If you mean the magnified circle that appears when you option-drag on the canvas with a brush tool, the color framed by the small one pixel square in the center of that circle when you release the mouse button should be the color the brush paints with. But note that the brush opacity setting, flow, hardness, blend mode, "wet edges" setting, etc. may modify how that color is applied by the brush.

[Fivel]

Thanks to all-I'm getting a better handle on these tools.

Sima-I do the stacking in other applications (Lynkeos, Sequator, DSS etc.) then I save them as 16 Bit TIFF files, to use in AP.

R-C-R- As I practice more, I get a better idea of how to ensure that the correction tools use the proper color.

It's a bit tedious though, but it works.

Can you have the development team look at the way Photoshop Elements simplifies the use of similar tools?

There is no changing to pixel layers, no holding Option/dragging nor need for the magnified circle. What you select, by one click, is what the tool delivers. I hope AP can simplify the process also.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Fivel