How to Apply a Faded Effect to an Image in Photoshop CS
Adobe Photoshop is a powerful image editing software utility that allows you to touch up digital photographs and manipulate any computer image file. Adobe Photoshop includes a large number of special effects and filters you can apply to your photographs to enhance their appearance. Fading a photograph blends your image with the background, creating a gentle gradient effect that adds a layer of depth to the image. By creating an image mask and applying a gradient, you can fade an image to any background color.
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Instructions
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Open your image in Photoshop and simultaneously press "Ctrl" and "A" to select the entire image. Copy the image by pressing "Ctrl" and "C."
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Create a new document by selecting "New" from the "File" menu. Photoshop will automatically set the new image size to match the copied image. Give your new image a title and ensure the "Background Color" is not set to "Transparent." Click "OK."
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Paste the copied image into your new document. Access the "Layers" palette by selecting "Layers" from the "Window" menu or by pressing the "F7" key. Your pasted image will be located in "Layer 1" above the background.
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Highlight "Layer 1" in the "Layers" palette by clicking on it. Click the "Add Layer Mask" button at the bottom of the "Layers" palette.
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Set the foreground color to "Black" and the background color to "White" by clicking on the color boxes on the main toolbar. Select the "Gradient" tool from the main toolbar.
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Click on the "Layer Mask" thumbnail in the "Layers" palette. Move the cursor to a point on the image where you want the fade to end. Click and drag the cursor toward the point on the picture where you want the fade to begin.
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Release the mouse button when the cursor reaches the point where you want the fade to begin. Photoshop will apply the gradient and your image will fade along the gradient.
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Tips & Warnings
To move the mouse cursor in a perfectly straight line, hold the "Shift" key while dragging the gradient tool across the image.
To change the background color, select the "Background" layer and use the "Paint Bucket" tool to fill the background with a new color.
If the fade dissolves in the wrong direction, select "Undo" from the "Edit" menu. Click and drag the gradient tool across your picture in the opposite direction to apply a new fade in the correct direction.
Make sure that the foreground and background colors of the gradient are set to black and white. A layer mask will only register black and white pixels.
