• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

Create a photo with a linear gradient transparency

Community Beginner ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hello,

I cannot figure out how to add a transparent gradient to my photos in either Illustrator or Photoshop. Is there no "clear" setting I can add to a gradient?

Thanks!

Views

33.0K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Adobe
Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

Are you familiar with Opacity masks?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hello,

No I am not familiar with opacity masks, although I am trying to be!! I am

using the trials of PS CS4 and Illustrator CS 5.1.

I don't know which program I should use to do these tasks either. I need a

jpg file to fade to transparency under another. Do you have any advice?

Thanks,

Christie

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I need a jpg file to fade to transparency under another.

Do you mean you want one photo to blend smoothly into another?

If so, you can do this easily in Illie with a gradient opacity mask on one of the images. This works in pretty much the same way as a gradient layer mask in Photoshop.

You say JPG, so you should be working in RGB mode.

If on the other hand you are working in CMYK you should take great care to use 100% of all 4 colours at the black end of the gradient in the opacity mask. If you use just K (or some other combination of CMYK colours) you may get unexpected colour results. You can of course also play with these unexpected results to achieve pleasing effects.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for replying.

I need my jpeg to fade into my existing Illustrator file. I would like my

jpeg to become increasingly transparent from right to left.

Is that possible?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Do you need a transparent image as the output format? To use it in a webpage for instance? In that case you cannot use JPG at all, but have to take PNG.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

No, I just want my photo to fade to transparency, so that that the picture

that is behind can be seen progressively as the transparency is greater.

Pls let me know if that doesn't make sense!

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

If you're doing a collage of two photos, use Photoshop (-> layer masks). In case you're combining photo and vector, use Illustrator ( -> opacity masks, as Steve said)

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Oct 16, 2011 Oct 16, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

Pls let me know if that doesn't make sense!

That makes perfect sense. I was out but not looking at any Northern Lights. It was raining and blowing a gale.

Anyway, Jacob has got it right. Whether you are blending between two photos or a photo and other vector artwork, the process is the same.

An opacity mask over the (top) photo.

And Monika: You can make a collage of photos either way. Use layer masks in PS or opacity masks in Illie. And for doing special colour effects in the blend Illie is better, or at any rate it's easier in Illie.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Oct 15, 2011 Oct 15, 2011

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Christie,

Steve may be out looking at the Northern Lights.

You may:

1) Select the image (the photo);

2) Click with the Rectangle Tool somewhere on the Artboard and set the same W and H values (you can see them in the Transform panel);

3) Place the rectangle exactly on top of the image (you may use the X and Y values from the Transform panel, or the Align panel centre aligning, or snap it (maybe using Smart Guides), or some other way);

4) In the Toolbox (at the bottom) remove the stroke if any and click the Gradient Tab for the Fill (if the Document Colour Mode is RGB this is enough, otherwise set C=M=Y=K = 100%;

5) In the Transparency panel flyout (upper right arrow) click Opacity Mask>Make, click Invert Mask.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines