Hi Rich54
I can explain why the Layers when Clipped do not work.
When considering just the transparency and/or Layer Masks, when Layers are clipped above the base Layer, what it is basically telling Photoshop to do is to ignore the transparency and Layer Mask, apply the adjustment Layers to the base Layer, and then after the fact, apply the transparency and Layer Mask. So with clipping masks, all layers below the Base Layer are ignored when the Adjustment Layers are Applied. It treats the base Layer of the clipping mask as solid pixels (no transparency and no Layer Mask)
This becomes more obvious what is going on when you pull the Transparency out to a Layer Mask as shown in the image below (no clipping masks). Note that the underlying pixels can be surprising yet has to do with how you created the Layer originally (e.g. in the thumbnails of the Layers Panel)
[ATTACH=full]125826[/ATTACH]
The above Layer Stack shows the pixels that will be used with the adjustment Layers above. To simulate what happens with a Clipping Mask, I just turn off (disable) the Layer Mask so the base Layer is operated on as solid pixels:
[ATTACH=full]125828[/ATTACH]
With the image pixels being just pure black or white, with the settings of your Adjustment Layers, it has no impact whatsoever (nature of those adjustment Layers and settings with Black or White pixels).
After the adjustment Layers are applied to the Black and White pixels, then the transparency is applied. I simulate this by turning off visibility of the adjustment Layers and re-enabling the Layer Mask:
[ATTACH=full]125829[/ATTACH]
Just to point out that this is identical to what happens with Clipped Adjustment Layers, I will Clip the Adjustment Layers to the Base Layer and you get the same result:
[ATTACH=full]125830[/ATTACH]
So the bottom line, Photoshop is doing exactly what it was told to do with Clipped Adjustment Layers: Apply the adjustments to the Base Layer while ignoring its transpareancy and/or Layer Mask (leaving just black and whtie pixels), and then apply the transparency and/or Layer Mask afterwards.
I think others have shown how to get around this problem yet thought this might help understand the root cause of the problem
Hope this was useful
John Wheeler
