Layer mask not working properly

[mspain77]

in Photoshop. The opacity for my brush is set at 100%, and the layers are all on Normal blending mode, yet when I select an area and fill it with 100% black in the layer mask, it appears to only screen back the selected area to about 5% opacity rather than hide it completely.
This is happening on mutliple files now, not just that one. Only my layer masks are acting up.
Any suggestions? Thanks.

(you can tell by my previous post that this has not been the best day!

 

[Natobasso]

Make sure your black for your layer mask is set to 100% for c, m, y and k. Make sure your fill is set to 100% as well (fill % shows up when you look at the top tool bar in Photoshop).

 

[mspain77]

The fill was checked and at 100%. Didn't know that it had to 100% for all for inks.
Nato-why then when you add a layer mask to a layer it automatically switched your inks to white and 0,0,0,100 if you need a rich black?

 

[Natobasso]

If you keep photoshop open (don't quit the app) and you choose the rich black (100% on c,m,y,k) it should stay constant every time you choose it. I think quitting the app resets it back to just 100% K.

Not sure why it does this except in printing it's very bad to set your black (especially on text) to rich black. It's really best for larger coverage areas that need a deep, rich black--you only use this rich black in certain situations.