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    Changing Image Opacity in Photoshop

    April 26, 2017 by ProfK 9 Comments

    There are times when you need to ghost back an image so that text can be read when placed on top of it or perhaps even another image can be seen below it. Reducing the opacity moves the image in a 2-dimensional space to the middle-ground or background. It also increases the transparency and enables us to see what lies underneath. There are a couple of simple ways to reduce opacity in Photoshop and the steps are outlined below.

    layers-panel-opacityOption #1 – Opacity Setting

    1. Open the file in Photoshop. Make sure your layers panel is open. If there is a single layer, it will be locked and named “background”.
    2. Unlock the background layer by double-clicking it, so that you can edit it. Its name will change to “Layer 0”.
    3. Add a new layer below the unlocked background layer, and name it “bkg”. Fill it with white. This will help you see the results of reducing the opacity.
    4. Select “Layer 0” (or the layer with the image you want to change).
    5. The default Opacity setting is 100%. Move the Opacity slider left (or type in the new percentage) until you get the results you like. My general guide is to start anywhere from 12 to 20%.
    6. Before saving, hide the visibility of the bottom white bkg layer (click the eye icon to hide).
    7. For Web files: FILE > EXPORT > SAVE FOR WEB (legacy) – gives you many more options for an optimized web-ready image.
      Choose the Preset: PNG-24 for images with transparency selected.
    8. For Print files: FILE > SAVE AS…  Choose the Format: Photoshop (layered PSD) or TIFF with no compression and transparency selected.

    layers-panel-levelsOption #2 – Levels Setting

    1. Open the file in Photoshop. Make sure your layers panel is open. If there is a single layer, it will be locked and named “background”.
    2. Unlock the background layer by double-clicking it, so that you can edit it. Its name will change to “Layer 0”.
    3. Add a new layer below the unlocked background layer, and name it “bkg”. Fill it with white. This will help you see the results of reducing the opacity.
    4. Select “Layer 0” (or the layer with the image you want to change).
    5. LAYER > NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER > LEVELS. Move the bottom slider (Output levels) to the right until you get the results you like. My general guide for the output levels is anywhere between 100-200.
    6. If you want to change a color image to black and white (grayscale), adjustment layers are a great tool. You can toggle the layer on and off, whereas changing the Image Mode to Grayscale is a more permanent solution. Give it a try: LAYER > NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER > BLACK AND WHITE.
    7. Before saving, hide the visibility of the bottom white bkg layer (click the eye icon to hide).
    8. For Web files: FILE > EXPORT > SAVE FOR WEB (legacy) – gives you many more options for an optimized web-ready image.
      Choose the Preset: PNG-24 for images with transparency selected.
    9. For Print files: FILE > SAVE AS…  Choose the Format: Photoshop (layered PSD) or TIFF with no compression and transparency selected.

    tiff-transparency

    Video Tutorial

    If you prefer, you can watch the video tutorial I made that shows you how to change the opacity of an image in Photoshop:
    VIEW VIDEO!

    Related Posts

    How to Resize an Image in Photoshop
    Best Alternatives to Photoshop
    Image File Formats: print vs. web
    How to Prepare Images for the Web

    Filed Under: Graphic Design, Software Tips, Teaching, Web Design Tagged With: ghosting back an image, opacity, transparency

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. fuad hasan says

      January 19, 2018 at 6:32 am

      I have faced this image opacity problem, but today I got the perfect solution here. Thanks, website owner, for this resource.

    2. Arena Animation says

      May 4, 2018 at 11:32 am

      Best Tutorial. Well explained.

    3. Amanda Chua says

      July 26, 2018 at 12:08 am

      Really impressive information in regards to photoshop and I am going to improve my skills for sure. Thanks for the valuable information.

    4. johnny says

      February 19, 2019 at 3:03 pm

      thank you, very cool

    5. Arena Animation Kolkata says

      August 12, 2019 at 6:55 am

      Thank you for sharing the tutorial.

    6. Martin Jackson says

      June 11, 2020 at 8:11 pm

      Nice article about photoshop. Thanks

    7. judi says

      August 16, 2020 at 1:25 pm

      Good article. I’m facing some of these issues as well..

    8. Lynda says

      October 1, 2020 at 10:54 pm

      This was really helpful. Thanks!

    9. ProfK says

      October 14, 2020 at 4:47 pm

      You are most welcome Lynda. Glad you found it helpful!

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