[Jeff Hinkle]

I’d probably hit it with the Levels, brighten the whites and midtones to remove the bleedthrough text and then darken the blacks to firm up the print you want to keep. Might have to hit the edge shadows with the Dodge tool to wipe out the rest of the bleedthrough. Once you have it clean, you can set its blend mode to Multiply and put it over a layer filled with the page color to keep it from looking too black-and-white. A little noise and paper texture will bring back the “old book” look if that’s something you want to keep.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Hard to say without seeing your screen. Sounds like that should give you the result you want provided you’re in RGB color space, not viewing a single color channel, or have a blending mode selected on your eye layer. I will say that if your “antique” version of Photoshop offers Adjustment Layers, you’d likely get better results using a Black and White adjustment layer (which allows you to better control the brightness values of individual shades) and just masking out the eye area you want to keep in color.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Command-click works. It stops drawing the current path and lets you start drawing the next. So, Pen tool, click/ click-drag to make points, Command-click to stop drawing that path, then release Command and keep clicking. You’ll get a new path each time you start clicking after a Command-click.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Hold the E key. You’ll get the eraser for as long as you hold and switch back to the brush when you release. Tapping will swap tools, holding will temporarily toggle.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Best bet: your black is not 100% black, so when you select white, it’s partially selecting the area you’re trying to keep. I would make your selection like normal, then instead of deleting, make a layer mask based on your selection and adjust the levels of your mask to get pure white/black

[Jeff Hinkle]

You can achieve a similar look with a round, hard brush and turning on Shape Dynamics in the Brush palette. Then set it to Pen Pressure (with a pressure-sensitive tablet) or Fade (without). Although looking at your samples, I’d probably do it with custom vector shapes to better control the shape and varying thickness.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Like Kalleheikki said, view both mask and image simultaneously by turning on both visibility eyeballs in the Channel palette (same function as backslash) and just paint straight in the mask layer. If the rubylith is obscuring your image too much, just double-click the mask layer in the Channels palette and set the opacity down. You can change the color of the rubylith there as well.

I’m thinking your procedure might be flawed. Make your selection in your image first, then click the “Add layer mask” button in the Layers palette. That will give you your base mask in the shape of your selection. If it’s opposite what you want, just Invert. Then paint in the mask with black (to hide) or white (to reveal) anything you missed with your selection. And with that image, I’d make my selection with the pen tool for cleaner edges.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

No need to go into Quickmask mode when using a Layer Mask. As long as the Layer Mask is selected in the Layers palette, it’ll stay selected until you choose something else. If you want to view just the mask, Opt/Alt-click the Layer Mask thumbnail in the Layers palette. If you want to view the mask and the layer simultaneously just hit the backslash \ key and it’ll appear as a rubylith overlay.

You mention accidentally cutting your image instead of your mask. You’re not deleting portions of your Layer Mask, are you?

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

I did not personally use it, but another guy on my team used it and loved it, and the results were quite impressive.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

On VoluMax, the end result was much better than just layers offset in Z-space.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.