Selecting and editing a mask layer

[Reisender]

I am going crazy here. I have a sharpening layer, and want to apply it selectively. So I select the sharpening layer in the layers panel, click on the "mask layer" button, click on the mask layer, select invert layer and... nothing happens. I select a brush to paint the mask layer in... nothing happens. I try to select the mask layer by clicking the preview button, again nothing.

I rasterize the sharpening layer, apply a new layer, invert... the preview layer window for the mask layer goes black. 

At some point in the clicking marathon, it actually works. 

But can someone please, please, please tell me the correct way to select and edit a mask layer (I already watched the Vimeo tutorial). Thanks!

[HVDB Photography]

After inverting the layer did you use a WHITE brush ?

 

See attached video

 

 

 

Unsharp Mask (Invert layer).mp4

[toltec]

56 minutes ago, Reisender said:

I am going crazy here. I have a sharpening layer, and want to apply it selectively. So I select the sharpening layer in the layers panel, click on the "mask layer" button, click on the mask layer, select invert layer and... nothing happens. I select a brush to paint the mask layer in... nothing happens. I try to select the mask layer by clicking the preview button, again nothing.

I rasterize the sharpening layer, apply a new layer, invert... the preview layer window for the mask layer goes black. 

At some point in the clicking marathon, it actually works. 

But can someone please, please, please tell me the correct way to select and edit a mask layer (I already watched the Vimeo tutorial). Thanks!

 

Don't click on the "Mask Layer" button. If you apply a filter layer, there is already a mask built in.

 

Select the filter layer by clicking on the mask layer thumbnail, click on the Layer > Invert option, then you can paint the Unsharp Mask on with white paint. Off with black paint.

 

Mask layer selected, now just invert it and  paint with white

 

 

 

 

[Reisender]

Ah, very sorry. It looks like I didn't explain what I wanted to do very well. I am not talking about a sub-layer. I am talking about a new layer to which I want to apply a mask layer.

Here's a screenshot of how my layer window looks like after I succeeded. As you can see, there's a little bit of white in the black.

But maybe toltec's method is actually better?
 

 

[HVDB Photography]

1 hour ago, Reisender said:

But maybe toltec's method is actually better?

 

That's what the video explains !!

 

[Roger C]

1 hour ago, Reisender said:

But maybe toltec's method is actually better?

 

For future reference; whatever the question,Toltec's method is better.

He is a reliable source of practical knowledge.

 

[Reisender]

11 minutes ago, HVDB Fotografie said:

 

That's what the video explains !!

 

Sorry, but your video doesn't seem to have any sound apart from a notification message half-way through?

[Reisender]

3 minutes ago, Roger C said:

 

For future reference; whatever the question,Toltec's method is always better.

 

OK, but with the live filter, I don't have access to split view, on which I rely quite heavily as a newbie.

[toltec]

9 hours ago, Reisender said:

OK, but with the live filter, I don't have access to split view, on which I rely quite heavily as a newbie.

 

What you can do is switch the layer off and back on again. Just click on the hide/show button. That hides the layer, so the unsharp filter is off. Click again to turn it back on. Not a split view, but a before and after view of the sharpening.

 

You can do it with shortcuts. With the filter layer selected, Press V (Move tool) and then press  00 (double zero). That sets the layer to 0% transparency, so it is hidden and the sharpen layer is off.

Press 0 (single zero) and the sharpening is back.

Press V to return to the paint brush.