Damien Symonds

When you say "hand draw a mask" ... I fear you might actually mean that literally. I fear you're not using the Shift Key?

Oh yeah, they do that. Well, tell them you'd be happy with "near enough is good enough" and you'd happily accept today's profile.

Well, "best" is a moving target. If "best quality" is the goal, then it must be a vector file like EPS or PDF. But the average programs like email and Word and stuff might struggle with those. So yeah, PNG is probably safer, from a "best usability" point of view. In which case, no, I can't think of any special considerations.

What file format does the eventual file need to be?

Can you give me the back-story? For what purpose are you masking them?

If it's only trees and grass, that's likely to be a soft-proofing issue. Have you tried soft-proofing with your lab's profile?

This can happen if the brush tool is accidentally on a blend mode other than "Normal". Next time this happens, make sure you check that in the Options bar. I'm so darn nervous about everything you're describing. I trust you're keeping frequent backups of all your data, in case the worst happens suddenly?

Hmmm ... I wonder if there's something serious brewing behind all this.

CS5 is version 12, actually. Huh, weird. It definitely DOES accept it in the field. I wonder if this is another related problem? Have you noticed any other weirdness in your computer behaviour lately? Any other little things not working that should work?

Yep, that makes more sense. Photoshop 6 is really really old. Do you mean CS6?

Then we should ignore that for a moment. How about your normal prints (eg lustre). Does the problem exist with them too?

Yeah, I was thinking that you might need to process a bit brighter than you normally would?

On the usual paper?

Were the Christmas cards printed by your usual lab?

Can you confirm these two figures. The first seems unlikely, and the second is obviously impossible.

I didn't provide a fix or a file. Only the link which I've provided again above.

If so, can you do this for me?

@Jodie Williams, this is the problem you're having too, right?

Any screen at all.

Ok, then don't worry about any other labs. You have all the evidence you need. Now we're in "very good friend" territory. Do you have one who would let you borrow their computer screen for a day so you can attach to your computer and calibrate?

And did that one match your original lab?

I forget if you told me ... did you try a different lab?

Well, how can you make your room brighter?

Was the net result of this a brighter room than how it's usually lit?

This is rather common with some screens, and it's very annoying, isn't it???? Yes, I think you've done the right thing choosing "normal". Yes, this also seems like the right thing to do. Can you elaborate on this? What did you try, exactly?