Master Opacity Change Photoshop

[Aron Eugine]

Youcan control the opacity for almost every layer in a Photoshop document. The opacity determines how transparent or opaque the layer will be. In other words, it controls how much the layers below can show through. Take a look at the example below.

You can also change the opacity of an Adjustment layer to make it more subtle. For example, if you have a Curves layer that is too intense, you could reduce the opacity to 70-80%. In many situations, this may be easier than modifying the adjustment layer itself.

By default, most Photoshop documents use a Background layer. You cannot adjust the opacity of a Background layer, and it cannot be hidden. This is because you won't want the background to have transparency for most projects, especially if you're working with a photograph.

However, there are some situations where you may want a transparent background. If you're creating a logo for a website, for example, a transparent background will allow the website's background color to show through, giving the logo a more seamless and professional look.

If you're following along with the example file, try hiding all layers except the Acorn layer. See the checkerboard pattern behind the acorn? This means the background is completely transparent. The checkerboard won't actually be exported when you save your image; it's only there to indicate transparency.

Note that if you want your image to have a transparent background, you'll need to save it in a format that can handle transparency. We recommend using the PNG-24 format, which is available in the Save for Web dialog box. JPEG files are unable to have transparent backgrounds, so they will save all transparent areas as white.

In addition to adjusting opacity, you can use different blending modes to control how the layers in your document are mixed together. The blending mode menu is located at the top of the Layers panel, next to Opacity.

If you're following along with the example file, select the Record layer. Notice that the blending mode is set to Multiply. Even though the opacity of the Record layer is set to 100%, this blending mode allows the turquoise color from the layer below to show through.

To change the blending mode, click the Blending Mode drop-down menu, then select the desired mode. In the example below, changing the blending mode to Screen will still allow the turquoise background to show through, but this time it appears on the record instead.

Each blending mode creates a different effect, and some are much more noticeable than others. It's also important to note that blending modes will work differently depending on the content of your layers. This means many blending modes may look unnatural, and it's unlikely that all of the modes will look good in your project.

Earlier in this tutorial, we covered using adjustment layers to correct images. By default, adjustment layers will affect all layers below them. However, there may be times when you only want an adjustment layer to affect one layer. To do this, you can use a clipping mask.

If you're following along with the example file, locate the small arrow next to the Gradient Map layer. This indicates that a clipping mask has been applied, which limits the adjustment layer to just the Acorn layer below.

You can also use this method to release a clipping mask. Releasing a clipping mask does not delete the layer, but it causes it to behave like a normal layer. For example, if you release the clipping mask for the Gradient Map layer in the example file, it will affect the color of all of the layers below it instead of only affecting the Acorn layer.

Open the example file. Select the Acorn layer, then add a Curves adjustment layer. Make sure a clipping mask is applied to the new layer, then modify the curves in the Properties panel. Notice how the curves adjustments only affect the Acorn layer. Next, try reducing the opacity of the adjustment layers to 70%.

Sometimes you may want only certain parts of a layer to be visible. For example, you might want to remove the background from a layer so the layers below it can show through. While you could use the Eraser tool to remove the parts you don't want, this type of destructive editing may be difficult to undo. Fortunately, layer masks allow you to show and hide parts of any layer in a nondestructive way.

Creating a layer mask can be a bit complicated, so let's start by looking at one that's already finished. If you're following along with the example file, select the Acorn layer. Here, we used a layer mask to hide, or mask out, the background so the acorn is the only part of the layer that's visible. The layer mask is represented by the black-and-white thumbnail to the right of the layer icon in the Layers panel. Notice how the areas that are visible in the document window correspond with the white area on the layer mask thumbnail.

The important thing to recognize here is that the background of the Acorn layer hasn't actually been removed; it's just hidden. If we ever wanted to show more of the original image, we could edit or even remove the layer mask.

You can use a layer mask to control which areas of your image are affected by an adjustment layer. For example, if you have a Black and White adjustment layer, you could use a layer mask to convert specific areas to black and white while leaving other areas unaffected.

Once you start working with multiple layers in your document, it can be difficult to keep them organized. Fortunately, Photoshop allows you to group your layers. You can use groups to keep related layers together, move and edit multiple layers at once, and much more.

If you no longer need to edit certain layers, you might consider merging them. There are many reasons you might want to combine certain layers. For example, if you have multiple adjustment layers you might want to merge them into a single layer before applying other changes, such as sharpening or noise reduction.

You can also combine all of the layers in your document into a single Background layer. This is known as flattening the image. To do this, right-click any layer, then select Flatten Image.

Flattening an image is one way to simplify a complex Photoshop project. However, it's important to note that you do not need to flatten images before exporting them. When saving a project as a JPEG or PNG file, all of the layers will be flattened automatically because these file formats cannot have multiple layers.

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A few years back, I attended a seminar from a successful musician portrait photographer. As that presentation proceeded, the presenter switched from his approach to photographing portraits out in the field to sharing his post-production process. I didn't expect to come out of that lesson with a nugget of information that would save me seconds per image, which would amount to minutes per day, which in the end, adds up to countless hours of editing time.

If you'd like to get more specific, you can type out "44" for 44 percent opacity. Since your non-mouse hand is typically resting on your keyboard during editing, this takes a fraction of a second each time. If you need an opacity number lower than 10, say 5 percent, type the "0" then "5" key in quick succession.

You can also quickly set layer opacity in the same manner. Simply click on the layer and type in the number. Aside from the time you simply save with this shortcut, it makes testing out opacity settings a breeze. If I'm ever unsure exactly how I want my brush to be set, I can toggle opacity quickly with the number keys while hitting "Command + Z" here and there to undo anything that didn't work out.

One more tip for using brushes efficiently: you can also change the size of your brush using the bracket "[ "and "]" keys instead of changing the size via the slider in the upper left of the interface.

I've been doing this since forever. If for whatever reason my opacity doesn't change when I do that, I hit the W key and then the number and it works again. Have no idea why the W does that except I've been doing it this way forever and it works. Thanks for spreading the word!

Finally someone who knows this shortcut, it is the most efficient!! i always get into a frenzy someone talks about using the bracket keys for brush size... I have been using this ever since it was introduced

I've got this programmed into one of my wacom stylus buttons. Then all I do is slide it left - right / up - down to change size / hardness of the brush. It works like a breeze. I can't remember how the brush option menu looks like anymore. ;)

Been doing this for years... Interesting note, switched from mac to windows 10, and it works perfectly, except the numbers on the 10-key side of the keyboard don't work (only the top ones) super frustrating and the num lock key doesn't fix/change.

If the layer was the background, it's not fixable because the colors are replaced. Also other layers can be non-fixable, if the opacity is excatly zero. In that case Photoshop wipes the RGB information off. But partially transparent layer areas have all colors intact. Make several copies of that layer and merge them. The opacity, where it's not exact zero, rebuilds itself as you add more copies.

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