Fade in Photoshop

When it comes to giving images a faded effect in Adobe Photoshop, there are a wide range of options. Not only is it possible to fade two images into each other to give a "blended" effect — it's also possible to fade part of an image by itself, fade an image into a colored background, and more. Best of all, the techniques used to perform these sorts of fades are very versatile — once you know them, it's easy to create your own custom fades.

Steps

Fading Two Images Into Each Other

1. Open the first image in Photoshop. Start by selecting "Open" from the File menu and browsing for the image on your hard drive. Open it to load it into Photoshop.
   • It's easiest to get started if this first image is not a Photoshop image — this way, it will only have one layer. However, you can always use the "Flatten" feature to combine all of the layers in the image into one.
2. Make a new layer above the background layer. To fade two images into each other, we'll need to load a second image into its own layer separate from the first. Click on the "New Layer" button in the "Layers" tab on the right to create a new layer.
   • The "New Layer" button is at the bottom of the "Layers" tab — it looks like a small square of paper with one corner dogeared.
3. Copy your second image and paste it into the new layer. Select the second image you'd like to use (you can use ctrl+A to select the entire image; for Macs, use command+A), copy it to the clipboard, and paste it into the new layer.
4. Add a layer mask to the layer containing your second image. To add a layer mask, click the Add Layer Mask button in the "Layers" tab. This button looks like a small square with a circle in the middle.
   • Alternatively, select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All from the menu bar.
   • Make sure that no part of your image is selected before you create the layer mask. You can use the Select > Deselect button from the menu bar to undo any selections you currently have.
5. Pick the gradient tool from the tool palette. Look for an icon in the Tool palette (which is on the left by default) that resembles a square whose color shifts from a light shade to a darker one. If you can't find it, click and hold the paint bucket tool and use the gradient tool when it appears.
   • For our purposes, we want to use a black-and-white gradient. Select this from the "Options" bar.
6. Drag lines with the gradient tool to create a fade. Hold down the shift key and click at a point on your second image where you'd like the fade transition to start and drag in the direction you would like to create the effect. Release the mouse button. You should see your two images "blend" together smoothly.
   • Try experimenting with different line lengths with the gradient tool — the longer the line, the more gradual the fade effect.
7. Reposition your two images as needed. Once you've gotten the hang of making one image fade into the other, try moving both images around in their layers until they're positioned for maximum effect. Repeat the steps above to re-apply the gradient as needed.
   • Note that your first image will be classified as a background layer by default. Photoshop doesn't allow you to move background layers, so, to get around this, hold down alt (option on Macs) and double-click on the word "Background" in the Layers tab.
8. To fade an entire image, adjust its opacity. The steps above have assumed that we have wanted to fade one image into another with a gradient effect. However, if we simply want make one image transparent and lay it image over the other image, our task is a little easier. Simply select the layer you want to fade and change the value in the "Opacity" box under the "Layer" tab to fade it.
   • Note that higher values make the selection less transparent, while lower values make it more transparent. A value of 100% will make the image appear "normal," while a value of 1% will make it appear almost completely transparent.

Fading a Single Image into a Backdrop

1. Open a new image in Photoshop. As in the section above, start by selecting "Open" from the File menu and browsing for the image on your hard drive.
2. Unlock your background layer. As noted above, Photoshop won't let you move the image in your background layer by default. To "unlock" your image, either use the trick in the section above or try double-clicking on the image itself.
3. Add a new adjustment layer under your first layer. To create a layer underneath your former background layer, ctrl+click on the New Adjustment Layer button (command+click on Macs). Choose the "Solid Color" fill layer type.
   • The New Adjustment Layer button looks like a small circle that is half white, half black.
   • Note that the color in the foreground will be the one used for the new layer. You can change the foreground color with the Color Picker tool.
   • Aesthetically, fades to colored backdrops usually look best if the color used appears in the image itself. The eyedropper tool can help here by allowing you to lift colors directly out of the image.
4. Use a black-and-white gradient on a layer mask. Now that you have an image on one layer and a solid-colored backdrop, it's relatively simple to fade from one to the other. Simply use the gradient tool (with a black-and-white gradient selected), hold shift, and drag a line from where you want your fade effect to start to where you want it to end (as in the section above.)
   • As also mentioned above, you may want to reposition your image in its layer to get the desired effect.

Fading an Image in a Select Area

1. Select an area of your image. There are multiple options for selecting part of an image in Photoshop. Below are a few of the most common options.
   • Quick-selection tool. The icon for this looks like a paintbrush tracing a dotted line. "Painting" with this tool makes Photoshop automatically attempt to select the parts of the image you paint over along their defined edges.
   • Marquee tools. The icons for these look like a dotted rectangle and a dotted oval. These tools allow you to grab rectangle or oval-shaped chunks of the image.
   • Lasso tool. The icon for this looks like a rope lasso. This tool allows you to draw a selection freehand.
2. Add the selection to a new layer. Once you've selected a portion of your image, put this selection in its own layer. You can do this by selecting Layer > New > Layer Via Cut from the menu bar.
   • As a shortcut, you can also press ctrl+shift+J (command+shift+J on Macs).
3. Select "Screen" from the Layer Mode menu. On the right side of the screen, under the "Layer" tab, select "Screen" from the dropdown menu.
4. Adjust the opacity slider. As noted above, there should also be an option under the "Layer" tab labeled "Opacity." Adjusting the value in this box will cause the layer (which contains the portion of the image you've selected) to become more or less transparent.
5. Alternatively, use a Gaussian blur. The method above fades the entire selection uniformly. If, on the other hand, you want to the selection's edges to blur into the surrounding image, using a tool like Photoshop's Gaussian blur feature can be highly useful. The procedure for this is a little different, but it's not hard — just follow the steps below:
   • Create a new adjustment layer from your selection.
   • Select Blur > Gaussian Blur from the "Filter" menu.
   • Input a value in the "Radius" box. This determines how greatly the blur/fade effect is applied to the image (larger values make the blurred area wider.)

Tips

• Experiment with different presets in the Gradient Tool Options bar to see other ways of fading images.
• You may also want to try experimenting with the other blur tools on your selection (you can find them under the "Filter" menu option at the top of the screen.)

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Create a Userbar in Photoshop
• Change Text Color in Photoshop
• Get Certified in Photoshop
• Create Borders in Photoshop
• Change the Background Color in Photoshop
• Add Transparency in Photoshop
• Create Line Art with Photoshop
• Adjust Opacity in Adobe Photoshop
• Use Selective Coloring in Photoshop
• Get Photoshop for Free

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