blending question

[sonix]

Hi all,

I have a question regarding blending. I have attached the photo, the question is I try to blend my photo with maybe opacity 50% with normal blend mode.

What i want to do now is if I use shape or selection tool to select the area I want then trying to make the portion i selected the blending opacity become 100%.

Can someone help me in this? still very new in this.. still trying play around

Thanks for the help
Sonix

[jeaniesa]

Sonix, if I understand your question correctly, I would try this:

1. With the photo at 100% opacity (you still have that, right?), make a selection of the area that you want to remain at 100%.
2. Copy that selection to a new layer. Leave the opacity of this new layer at 100%.
3. Go back to the initial layer with the full photo and set the opacity to 50%.

If you only have the photo at 50% opacity at this point, then you'll again need to select the area you want at 100%, copy it to a new layer, then set the blending mode of the new layer to multiply. You may need to copy that mulitply layer one or two times to get back to the density you want. However, the steps I outlined above are a much better way to achieve this effect because you're working with all of the information in the photo rather than throwing out some of it (lower opacity) and then trying to bring it back (through multiply.)

Hope this helps.
Jeanie

[Stephen M]

Introducing Layer Masking...

Sonix, what you want is a layer mask.

i) Working on a layer and not the flat background...

ii) A layer mask can be added in many ways, by simply using the add layer mask command in the layer menu to reveal or hide the whole image, or by basing the mask off a selection.

iii) A layer mask is a special alpha channel which is associated to a certain layer and controls visibility of the pixels in the layer. White fully reveals layer content, black hides it - while shades of gray reveal their appropriate tonal level.

For your question, the layer mask would be a simple flat fill of 50% grey which would provide 50% opacity for all the pixels in the layer. Where you require full pixel opacity, then the shape in the mask would be fully white and not grey or black.

The Photoshop manual and help system has more on this, as do many books and other sources of info on Photoshop, including this list.

Hope this helps,

Stephen Marsh.