Stroke turns grey

[emkayess65]

Hi, this is from a collage with a lot of problems, so I'am addressing them one at a time.
Actually 2 questions.
I put an inner shadow on the picture and I did the stroke on a separate layer.
When I merged the layers the stroke turned gray.
(I wanted to change the position and stroke and picture did not align separately.)
I did the same thing on another picture and it stayed white.
Any guesses at to what I did wrong this time?
Has anyone ever experienced this?

The other problem is the Dad really did have a sunburn and I don't know how to fix it.
Working around the glasses gets to be a mess.
Suggestions appreciated.
Thank you!
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1XyQ6vKGb37jr2c72eKiGgI7Vfr_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1XyQ6vKGb37jr2c72eKiGgI7Vfr)
The paper and embellishment are byRobyn, kit is Fresh from Digital Design Den.

mks

[Bayla]

Marie,

For the sunburn, make a rough selection around Dad's head, Ctrl-J to copy to a new layer. Then Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue/Saturation and select red from the dropdown menu., then drop the saturation a tad.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1GhJPg1ZiLB7T34MuR8AdIlBuvSjGE0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1GhJPg1ZiLB7T34MuR8AdIlBuvSjGE0)

Bayla

[TonyW]

I suspect what is happening is that the inner shadow is a layer style so when you merge down you are now applying the layer style to both the image layer and the stroke layer and it now looks gray. If you just want the layers to move together then don't merge down but link the layers (In PSE3 you would select the image layer and then click in the second column of the stroke layer and a link icon will show). Then the two layers will move together.

You could also do it by simplifying the layer with the layer style before you merge down but that means you can't go back and adjust the layer style.

As for the sunburn I'd probably try a hue saturation adjustment layer, pick Reds and see what adjusting the saturation down a bit does.

Tony

[emkayess65]

Hi Bayla, thank you. That is exactly what I wanted to accomplish.
That will work great.
Tony , thanks for your advice. I woke up last night and just KNEW ...simplyfy.
Some of my braincells must be napping and just woke up.

Bayla and Tony, thanks for helping.
Now on to the other three corners of problems.

mks