L&M or brush problem during head-swap

[Ella Heath]

Hi Damien, can you please help me figuring out what I am doing wrong? I took your Layer & Mask class 2 years ago and do head swaps all the time but sometimes *mysteriously* my brush do not work properly and while I try to paint back and forth I can see the shadow of the original image in the background. It's faint but it's there! This is the workflow I follow: raw processing for both images in ACR > Open both in PS > copy and past a portion of image no. 1 unto image no. 2. > covert layer to Smart Object > then add Mask > then paint with both white and black brush to compose the image. The brush is a soft brush, 0% hardness and is set at 100% opacity and flow. Here is an example at 100% crop. Please help me before I lose my mind! Thank you, Ella

[Damien Symonds]

Usually this happens because you're not quite painting with white or black.  Make sure you press D to reset the colours to their defaults.

[Damien Symonds]

How did you go, Ella?

[Ella Heath]

Hi Damien,  you saved my butt once more!! sorry I took so long to thank you.. I was trying to complete the retouching last-minute. - Ella

 

[Ella Heath]

ps: that particular image is now in lab to be printed as a 40". Like my son says "you are the best-est"

[Damien Symonds]

Great.  Glad it was an easy fix.