Photoshop help please

S

Sculli

Guest
I have an image with three layers. Layer 0 is unicolored which will be my background. I would like to fade Layer 1 and Layer 2 simultaniously so that they end up machting the background. The whole thing is supposed to be a gradient or sorts. Except I can't figure out how to use my Layer 0 as reference. I can make gradients that use either the Foreground or the Background color as reference no problem.

Of course I could just set the FG or BG color to my background color. I did that, and the results were sort of not really ok because the final wasn't quite the background color as there was some ptransparency mixed in.

Anyway, how do I gradually blend layers together, preferably not along straight lines, and resulting in a gradient that really goes all the way to #FFFFFF (if that is the color I am shooting for). It's about creating an image that will seamlessly overlay over the background color or a web page.
 
I dont think I get it. Do you mean to blend two images together, similar to the way Windows 98 had the title bars that were one colour on the left and another colour on the right?
 
Look at your sig. Now draw a vertical line to the right of the letter 'y'. I want to blend your sig from whatever colors it has, to the QCDN background color for this post. Starting from that line, to the right edge of the sig, in such a way that the right edge of your sig has the exact same color as the background and everything from the vertical line to that edge is a gradual blend of sorts.
 
Use the gradient fill, and set the transparentcy of one of the gradients to 0
 
I tried that, the trouble I run into is that the color I end up with at the end of my gradient (background) doesn't match the actual background, but is instead some sort of combination between my original image and background color. I need to end up with a solid color at the end of the gradient.
 
Im kinda confused but maybe this is what you want...

Layer 0 is the solid color.

Layer 1 is the image.

Make sure layer 1 is over layer 0.

Add a layer mask to layer 1. Goto Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All. You can also just use button next to Photoshop effects button ion Layers Palette but stick to the menu for now.

Take a black to white gradient and use it on the actual layer mask. Screw with it you'll see how it works. Make sure you have (in the layers pallette) the actual Layer Mask selected, it should be plain white to the right of the normal layer icon.
 
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Left is what I have, right is what I want, except instead of the solid block I want a gradient that ends on the very last pixel in the color that the solid block has.

trader01.jpg
trader02.jpg


Yes! Layer mask! I seem to remember that now, will try it out in a few. Thanks.
 
Ya what you want is layer mask. You could also just do a gradient of the Bkgd color > transparency over the image but the Photoshop gods will laugh at you.
 
Through the trouble still seems to be that I can't manage to get the background to show up as solid color at the edge, there are still 'image' layer pixels around. Sigh, oh man, I am glad this is just for giggles, if I had to do this for a living I would have killed myself already, lol.

Though it doesn't seem like such an unreasonable thing to do to essentially fade an image into the background.
 
Haha, uhm I need to take Photoshop 101 somewhere.
Yup like that, though I would prefer if the actual gradient would be wider and thus more subtle. I really only need the very edge pixel to have background color.

What did you do to get the right side to be solid background?
 
I did exactly what I posted earlier, masks and all that. To make the gradient wider you just have to drag it farther than I did. the right side is my layer 0 and the left is layer 1 and the gradient is a combo.
 
I've been wondering how to do that too. I usually just ghetto out and use different sizes & opacities of the Eraser tool to make it work.

Only takes about 16x longer, but it works.
 
onions said:
Ya what you want is layer mask. You could also just do a gradient of the Bkgd color > transparency over the image but the Photoshop gods will laugh at you.
Click to expand...

I use masks for complex shapes. If your doing a simple gradient, I found it's quicker to just gradient fill.
 
I figured out what my problem was. I had the gradient tool set to 'overlay' from previous attempts which is why it didn't work. As soon as I set it back to 'normal' everything worked out. Thanks guys, much appreciated.

How does gradient fill work?

Edit: Onions, what about applying gradients to the lower and right edges? Does a second mask have to be created and the two masks merged somehow? I fiddled with it for a bit but even though I did create a second mask it seems like the second gradient is canceling the first one out.
 
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Sculli said:
Edit: Onions, what about applying gradients to the lower and right edges? Does a second mask have to be created and the two masks merged somehow? I fiddled with it for a bit but even though I did create a second mask it seems like the second gradient is canceling the first one out
Click to expand...
nope, you can do both on one mask layer, they won't overwrite each other.
 
Photoshop becomes user friendly after a short period of time.

When it comes to working in layers, i find the best method is to duplicate layer 0 hide it, and work from layer 1. Layer 0 often has locks and restrictions, and if you need anything from the original image it'll be at your disposal.

Also if you ever open an image type of any kind that for some reason won't allow you to do any kind of work on it. Make sure the mode is set to RGB, like everything else you worked on.

Hope that helped.
 
Sculli said:
Edit: Onions, what about applying gradients to the lower and right edges? Does a second mask have to be created and the two masks merged somehow? I fiddled with it for a bit but even though I did create a second mask it seems like the second gradient is canceling the first one out.
Click to expand...

It does cancel it out unless you tweak your settings.

Easier just to use a large brush set to black on the layer mask and hold the Shift key to draw in straight lines. That's the easiest way at least.
 
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Anttaru said:
Photoshop becomes user friendly after a short period of time.

When it comes to working in layers, i find the best method is to duplicate layer 0 hide it, and work from layer 1. Layer 0 often has locks and restrictions, and if you need anything from the original image it'll be at your disposal.
Click to expand...

Double-click "Background" (Layer 0 in your explantion) on its name in the layers palette and rename it whatever. That takes off all restrictions to the first layer.
 
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