# Lightroom Classic CC 8.2 stuck on inverted adjustment brush?



## emilyjohnsonstl (Mar 14, 2019)

Hello! I'm operating on Lightroom Classic CC 8.2.

Somehow I figured out a way to get the adjustment brush selective tool stuck on the inverted selection. Meaning anything I select, it applies edits to everything in the photo _except _what I want to adjust. When I have searched for a solution, I find tutorials for inverting the radial filter tool (checking the box on the right hand side), but I can't find anything about inverting the adjustment brush. Any ideas?


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## clee01l (Mar 14, 2019)

Welcome to the forum.   You may be using a preset that does this inversion.   At the top of the Targetd Adjustment tool (TAT), is the word effect.  Beside that is a drop down list of Presets.   Make sure it says "Custom".


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 14, 2019)

emilyjohnsonstl said:


> Hello! I'm operating on Lightroom Classic CC 8.2.
> 
> Somehow I figured out a way to get the adjustment brush selective tool stuck on the inverted selection. Meaning anything I select, it applies edits to everything in the photo _except _what I want to adjust. When I have searched for a solution, I find tutorials for inverting the radial filter tool (checking the box on the right hand side), but I can't find anything about inverting the adjustment brush. Any ideas?


It should not be possible to invert the brush. People have come up with tricks that more or less work this way (like first brushing the entire image, and then switch to the eraser to erase what you don’t want), but if this is how your adjustment brush now works from the beginning, then something is clearly wrong. Try resetting the preferences in that case: How do I reset Lightroom's Preferences? | The Lightroom Queen


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## Califdan (Mar 14, 2019)

I'm not aware of any way to invert a brush, lets first understand what exactly you are you referring to.  Are you talking about the brush tool on the tool bar or the brush tool within the Radial or Graduated filter?    

If you turn on the mask overlay (by clicking "O" on keyboard or checking the "Show Selected Mask Overlay" checkbox under the image) and you brush on the image, are you saying that the pink mask does not appear where you brush?     

Are you sure you aren't using the "Erase" brush?  For example if you use the gradient tool and have the entire image under the mask (pink in mask overlay) then brush with the Erase brush within the Gradient tool the mask will be erased from where you brush leaving only areas not brushed as being affected by the adjustment.  That's the only thing I can think of where it might appear as you describe.


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## emilyjohnsonstl (Mar 16, 2019)

Upon closer inspection, it looks like the adjustment brush just doesn't work at all! Edits apply to the entire photo instead of just the mask? I tried resetting the preferences but no luck :(


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## Dan Marchant (Mar 16, 2019)

The adjustment brush can't do what you describe. So, either you have found a new bug that hasn't been reported before or something else is happening. To decide which we really need to see a screen shot of the brush panel when you have the brush selected.


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## Califdan (Mar 16, 2019)

I assume then that you are using the main brush tool as opposed to to the brush within the radial of gradient tools.   Are you familiar with how the brush tool works or are you new to it?   If you are new to it, maybe you're not using it correctly as it sounds like you are making adjustments in the Basic Panel rather than the adjustment brush pop up panel.  At first glance they look quite similar so it is easy to get it wrong.    So, again sorry if you know this already, but make sure the brush tool icon has a circle of dots around the circle at the left end of the tool.   Below that  on the left edge of the panel it should say "Mask:"  and there should be sliders for Sharpness, Noise, Morie, and Defringe.  At the bottom of the panel should be brush settings.  If that is not what you're seeing then you are probably in the basic panel rather than the brush adjustment panel and it would explain your symptom.  

If you are in the proper panel, turn on the mask overlay by checking the box under the image.  You should only see pink where you brush or have brushed.  Please answer if that is the case or if the entire image is covered in a pink overlay.   Maybe your brush size is as big as the state of texas and just clicking in the image to set the adjustment pin pretty much caused the mask to cover the entire (or most of) the image.  Again, how much of the image is covered in pink?

Does the image have any other targeted adjustments such as other brush adjustments, a radial filter or a gradient filter?    Maybe take a look at the history panel and see if any of those items appear in the list.   You may want to "Reset" the image which will clear all the edits you've done and see if the problem still exists.  Also I've seen strange things similar to this, if I haven't closed LR and re-opened it in a long time and have done lots of changes.

Let me know how you make out on these ideas.


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## Johan Elzenga (Mar 16, 2019)

emilyjohnsonstl said:


> Upon closer inspection, it looks like the adjustment brush just doesn't work at all! Edits apply to the entire photo instead of just the mask? I tried resetting the preferences but no luck :(


This is almost always due to having the adjustment brush panel collapsed. As a result, the sliders for the adjustment brush are hidden, and so you move the global sliders thinking that these are the adjustment brush sliders. I can’t show you a screenshot because I’m typing this on my iPad, but look for the small triangle on the right of ‘Effect’. It should point downward, so click on it if it doesn’t.


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## emilyjohnsonstl (Mar 19, 2019)

You guys are the best. The adjustment brush panel was minimized! I'm not wholly new to the tool, but totally missed it being collapsed. Thank you!!


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