How do I make a photo on a layer gradient fade using the brush tool?

[Ken Nielsen]

I have a photo on a layer that I want to gradually fade into the background selectively using the brush tool. This would be like a linear gradient but controlled using the brush tool. Is this possible in Photoshop? Your help is greatly appreciated on this... Any links to a tutorial would be great also.

TIA,
Ken

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

You can add a Layer Mask to your photo layer (click the 3rd icon from the left at the bottom of the Layers panel). Then use the brush to paint where you want the edges to fade. On the Layer Mask, black hides the pixels of the photo while white shows them. Gray creates semi-transparency. Here's more information about Layer Masks:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/masking-layers.html

[Ken Nielsen]

Thank You. I should have been able to figure this out, but under the pressures gets the thinking scattered sometime. Perfect answer and appreciation!

[Myra Ferguson]

You're very welcome. 🙂

[George_F]

If I understand your request correctly, you would use a mask and paint on it with a brush instead of a gradient, and set the brush flow to a slow setting like 1%-10%.  It'll take a bit of experimenting to figure out exactly how slow or fast you want the flow to be.  And then paint away on the mask from there!  If you want to start with a black mask, just press Ctrl + I on a white mask to invert it.

You can also set the gradient tool to circular if you are looking for an alternative.  I'm willing to bet there are many ways to accomplish this.

[Ken Nielsen]

Thanks George_F, I'm rolling along with this now, thanks for the tips.