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Enhancing Images
Blending Images
Special Effects
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Interface Color Balance Selection Tools Filters Color Selection
Toolbox Brightness/Contrast Transform Layer Styles Type Tool
Palettes Hue/Saturation Opacity Paint Tools
Layers Cropping Vector Shapes
File Types Cloning Stamp Gradients
Resolution/Size Blur/Sharpen/Smudge
Burn/Dodge/Sponge

 

What is opacity?

 

Opacity refers to the amount of transparency a layer has. For instance, if a layer’s opacity is set to 100%, then that layer is completely opaque (in other words, you can’t see through it). If a layer’s opacity is set to 50%, then it is see-through, or moderately transparent, and layers behind it can show through. On the other end of the scale, if a layer’s opacity is set to 0%, then that layer is completely transparent (that is, invisible).

 

  
 

 

 How do I change opacity?

The Layers palette contains a slider bar for Opacity. The opacity setting for each layer can be adjusted simply by highlighting the desired layer and adjusting the slider bar.




 
 

 

 

 An example
This image is set to the standard (or “default”) opacity setting of 100%:


Before


The following image was created by:

  • setting the opacity of the above image to 20%;
  • pasting an image of a lone daffodil into a layer behind the original image and setting the opacity of that layer to 70%;
  • and creating a text layer and placing it on top of the orginal image.


After

As you can see, the text is on top of the faded flowers so that it stands out. The lone daffodil is behind the original faded image; this way the faded flowers act as a wash over the top of the lone daffodil so that it blends in slightly with the other flowers.

 
 

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Contact Dr. Mary Nicholson at mjnich@bloomu.edu