# Adjustment Brush Artifacts



## steverap (Sep 10, 2015)

I find that often the Adjustment Brush leaves dark artifacts on affected areas of my images.  I read a few posts elsewhere that blame Auto Mask for the artifacts.  Can anyone here confirm that Auto Mask is the problem?  Thanks!


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## Hal P Anderson (Sep 10, 2015)

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, it is.


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## steverap (Sep 10, 2015)

Thanks and thanks!  I assume that Adobe is aware of the problem and will fix it at some point.  Thanks again for your prompt response.


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## RikkFlohr (Sep 10, 2015)

Using AutoMask is the cause of your artifacts but it is not a defect. The area you are painting simply has too varied a tonal profile to use Automask. You would probably better served using painting without Automask and then erasing with Automask.


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## steverap (Sep 10, 2015)

Interesting, thanks for the explanation, and I will do just that!  Thanks again:  this forum is an invaluable resource and I am grateful to you both for taking the time to respond.  All the best, Steve


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## Rob_Cullen (Sep 11, 2015)

When Auto-mask is turned on, every time you click the mouse button to brush, LR samples the image 'tone' that is EXACTLY under the cross hairs in the centre of the brush (NOT the whole brush circle and irrespective of brush size.). Then as you continue brushing it only affects pixels that have the exact SAME tone as the sampled pixel. 
As a result if you brush over areas of different tones you are only affecting pixels selectively resulting in the 'artifacts' that many see.
I have heard that if you repeatedly click the mouse over an area as you move the mouse then LR learns from the different pixels sampled to include more than the one tone originally sampled.

So to avoid the 'artifacts' entirely- the answer is- Turn Auto-mask off.


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## Johan Elzenga (Sep 13, 2015)

I doubt that Lightroom only selects pixels with the _exact_ same match (meaning one color out of millions of possible colors). That would make auto mask pretty useless. There is definitely some tolerance (I can paint a sky with only a few clicks, leaving trees unaffected by using auto mask), but you can't influence how much tolerance.


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## Rob_Cullen (Sep 13, 2015)

> There is definitely some tolerance


True Johan, but "EXACTLY" helps to explain the effect to beginners.
It's possible it selects pixels in a manner similar to the White Balance 'dropper'.
That's a suggestion for Adobe- Allow the adjustment of the sampled area with a slider (as you can the WB sampler.)


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## Ian.B (Sep 14, 2015)

I'm sure Stev doesn't mind  a general comment to anyone who wants to read it

when using the masking brush; I find it's work best by using a small brush size close to the edges with feathering at 50/30 or harder. Once the edges are done the brush can be used normally to fill in the middle. Always pays to use the overlay mask [O] for off/on and [shift+O] to change the colour. I like green atm 

here's sometime I have been exploring lately. Over do the brushing and then soften with a the eraser brush with low flow rate. This seems to work well on the edges of the brushed area. Very similar to how an artist might soften the medium with their thumb or even hand (no; I cannot draw past grade one stick people). 

The real trick with any editing is the viewer should not be able to see what has been done even if they know a lot of editing has been done. A little is often a lot and hard edges are the give away

Always more interesting with a before and after photo and I can show off a pic from yesterday 
raw file off the card>Olympus EM1/20mm Panasonic lens [=40mm]


more over cooked then I normally do, however we always need to explore. Not finished but I hope you cannot see the any brush adjustments. I will leave it for a few days and then look again at it

taken through the bird watchers window at the local artificial wetlands that filters city street run off water before the water goes into the Murray River

The adjustment brush should be our best LR friend IMO, however we do need to spend time learning what it can do for us. I think it would be possible to do a LR workshop and most of a day could be taken up with the adjustment brush only. Dodge and burn [lighten and darken] of an image is one of the oldest photo editing 'tools' that started in the early darkrooms and it's one of the more important 'tools' we have today. Many would say PS is better for dodge and burn; however LR has some very powerful D+B tools for us to use.

There was a time that I was _sooooo _anti LR :nod:

photo needs a cloud or two .... should have step back a bit for less sky


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