How to Fade an Image in Photoshop CS5
Adobe Photoshop CS5 supports the use of layers which enable you to apply effects such as fading to your images. Fading lowers the opacity of the layer, enabling you to blend your image with the background color of an underlying layer or with a different image altogether. You can also save the images in a format that supports transparency in order to use it on a website where the faded part of the image blends with your page background. Using a layer mask allows you to apply the fading effect to only the parts of the image that you want.
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1.
Open Adobe Photoshop CS5 and open or create the image that you want to fade.
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Double-click the "Background" layer on the "Layers" palette and then click "OK" to unlock the layer.
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Click the "Add Layer Mask" button -- styled like a gray square with a white circle inside -- at the bottom of the "Layers" palette.
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4.
Click and hold your cursor over the Paint Bucket tool on the toolbar and select the "Gradient" tool.
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Select "Black" as the foreground color and "White" as the background color.
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6.
Select "Black, White" from the gradient toolbar and then click and drag your cursor from the point on your image where you want the fade effect to start to where you want it to end. For example, if you want to fade half of your image, click and drag the cursor from the bottom of the image to the middle of the image.
References
Tips
- The faded part of the image is displayed as a gray and white checkerboard pattern. Save your image in the PSD format if you want to add it to another image as a layer. This enables you to fade the image into another image. Save the image in GIF or PNG format to preserve the transparency if you want to use the image on your website. This enables you to fade the image into the background color of your page. Add a new colored layer below the image layer in Photoshop to fade the image into the selected background color.
- Adjust the opacity of the image layer if you want to fade the image uniformly instead of as a gradient.
Writer Bio
Virtually growing up in a computer repair shop, Naomi Bolton has held a passion for as long as she can remember. After earning a diploma through a four year course in graphic design from Cibap College, Bolton launched her own photography business. Her work has been featured on Blinklist, Gameramble and many others.