Fading images / edges 'smoothly'?

[Westnorth45]

Hi fellow creators,

I'm struggling to find the best way to fade images nicely, so you can't really see where the image end or begins. For example, watch this video at 6:15

He uses a brush and adds that nice transition within seconds. What brush does he use? I sometimes use a gradient transition and several times it looks nice, but when I need to add a fading edge all around the image I get this ugly square fading effect which doesn't look good.

Any tips or advice to get this nice fade of edges?

[davescm]

Just add a mask and paint it with a soft round brush (0% hardness) - paint the mask black to hide the layer and white to reveal the layer

Dave

[JJMack · Accepted solution]

A feathered selection added as a layer mask.  Paint on the mask with a soft low opacity brush.  I did not look a your video.  Masking can easily fade a layers using a brush,

[c.pfaffenbichler]

»I get this ugly square fading effect which doesn't look good.«

Could you please post screenshots with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Channels, Options Bar, …) visible? 

If the Mask »fades« over the original Layer’s edges those edges can naturally become noticable, but I am not sure if that’s what you are talking about. 

[Westnorth45]

@c.pfaffenbichler I deleted my whole project because I wasn't satisfied, so the work in this project was created just as an example. The first thing I did in this case was to use a gradient to blend the images together. (I want to create something like in the video). Afterwards, to fade out the edges I used another neutral density gradient from the sides.

@davescm @JJMack I haven't tried your way at the moment, I will try it later. Thanks.

[Westnorth45]

For another example, I'm trying to achive something like this example below. Iwo Jima (the island on the background) looks a bit faded out, maybe a little bit of transparency (?), and the edges are nice faded.

[melissapiccone]

You are on the right path. Take the layers you combined (laag 1 laag 2 ) and turn them into a smart object, then apply the layer mask to the smart object. That will create a seamless blend for you. 

Another way to I like to create faded egdes is using the mask properties. Instead of doing it the "old" way with using a feathered selection, I select the area, make a mask and then feather / fade the mask itself giving me visual feedback. If you feather too much you will get the hard edges you mentioned earlier so with make a smaller selection or feather less. 

[Westnorth45]

Thanks for all the replies and options to do it! For now, the best way for me is the one @JJMack suggested, this does the job for me. Again, thanks all!