Editing Opacity With Layer Masks

On screen, the colors of pixels are a mix of red, green and blue values. A fourth value, opacity, controls how pixels blend with pixels laid over them.

In image-editing programs such as Photoshop, changing the opacity of a layer is straightforward: Setting a layer to 50% opacity makes all of its pixels half-visible. If the situation calls for variable visibility, then layer masks are the answer.

Read the full article I wrote at Webdesigner Depot.

Above: Using non-destructive masks to replace a face.

Above: Looking for natural seams when mixing images.