i tried that. it changed the whole picture. thanks

thank you. i tried it. i made a selection and see it on the mask. i uses the brightness/contrast option.
i get density and feather options.
however, when i click on the box to the left with the brightness/contrast symbol thats when i get the
brightness and contrast choices. i always thought you have to click
on the "mask" to be able to make those changes...in all the videos they tell you to make sure that mask box is highlighted...to make changes...

i seem to always have issues with using masks.
ive watched video after video but i must not be getting something because
when i do change the sliders the whole picture changes. when i try to use the brush with the same mask to a specific area i see no change. i see the "black scratchings" on the white box in the layers panel...but i see no change on the picture....what i am trying to do is lessen the saturation in one area.
hope i being clear.
thank you

i actually watch him and buy his videos from creative live.
its taking me awhile to figure out the curves thing...

sometimes it works. sometimes it doesn't.
here's my issue.
i was taught that when i hover over a part of the picture when using curves i will see a little dot on the curves panel ...
i hovered in two different spots , got two different dots on the
graphs..so far so good. but when i click between the two dots the whole picture is changing not just the area i want it to change in...what am i not understanding? im pretty sure i have been able to just address that area i want changed....havent done it in a while so i may be wrong...
if i am wrong is there anyway i can just change 1 particular area in curves?
thank you

i had tried it but it didnt work. tried again after your response. seems to be working.
thank you

i set cc photoshop to have my pics open as tabs. at times i need to see more than 1 picture open. so i separate them however, once i click on one of the pictures to work on it, the others hide behind the photoshop panel-

hi. 1. other than painting what is the regular brush (under the healing brush icon) good for?
2. how would i for example lighten the edge of a mountain against the sky?
thank you

is there anyway to keep the selection (ants) showing while making the adjustment. it turns off as soon as i click on adjustment layer.

i think i got it. for some reason the second brush with the plus sign was highlighted on top of page instead of the first selection-of just the brush!

it seems to work with the lasso tool but not with the quick selection tool-does that make sense?

ive tried that many times. it is still adjusting the entire picture!

i want to adjust the rgb and individual colors in an adjustment later
in only a certain part of the picture.
1. i open the picture
2. do i click on background to make another layer?
3. i click on the the adjustment layer icon (looks like a crown/histogram)
and i "lasso" the part of the picture that i want to make changes to ..
it still adjusts the whole picture...cannot figure out why.
do i lasso first and then hit adjustment layer? that doesnt seem to work either. i try on the layer mask and i try on the section write next to it in the layers palette(looks like a crown/histogram) nothing seems to work..
if someone can step by step for me i would much appreciate it.. thank you

I need very specific info:) . It's right click on the background layer?

Yes this is more of the response I was looking for. Is it an adjustment layer from the layers panel? Thank you