Expert: LizaL - 1/14/2005

Question
Thanks I was able to get the print I wanted but one question when I pull the opacity down the screen shows a gray and white checker all over the picture to the point I can not see the picture at all. How can this be avoided so I could see the lighter photo on the screen?
Gary

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Followup To
Question -
That sounds just like what I want to do but the lever and opacity is gray and won't let me do anything. How would I make the lever words black so it would be operational?
Gary


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Followup To
Question -
I think I just messed up because I didn't get a confermation from allexperts so I will ask you my question again. I have photoshop 7 and would like to take a photo and reduce the color in it to about 20 or 25% so it would appear real light and soft so I can print on top of it. I did this with an earlier version but I can't figure out how to do it here. Can you help me?
Answer -
Hi Gary,

I don't think you messed up -- I don't think I ever got your question! Sometimes this site has some traffic problems, I think, so I apologize if I didn't receive your question.

Anyway! I have a solution to your question, and that's to reduce the opacity of the layer your photograph is on. To do that, just go to the Layers palette and up at the top right you'll see "Opacity," and a little slider. You can either move the slider until you get the results you like, or you can type a value into the box beside the word "Opacity"  -- whatever's easiest for you!

Take a look at this screen shot to see what I mean:

http://little-works.com/all_experts/layers.png


Now did I get this right? It sounded to me like you wanted to lighten the overall picture. If you want to selectively lighten or change different colors within the picture, we can do that -- just post back and let me know, and I'll be glad to help!


Lisa
Answer -
Hi again Gary,

It sounds kind of like your layer is locked. Make sure, when you select your layer, that you don't see the padlock symbol to the right of the layer name.

By default, when you open a Photoshop file for the first time, the bottom layer will be called "Background," and it will be locked. So in order to do any editing, you'll have to unlock it.

Double-click on the layer name, and the layer will automatically be renamed "Layer 0," and now you can edit.

You can also re-lock this layer (or any layer, for that matter), manually, by clicking on the layer name, then on the padlock symbol in the layers palette.

Check out the little movie I did -- in it I double-click on the layer to unlock it, then lock and unlock the layer a couple of times. (It's kind of hard to actually see me double-click here, but I did!)

http://little-works.com/all_experts/unlock.mov


So I hope this is all that's going on. But if not, and if you're still having problems, please don't hesitate to post back!


Lisa

Answer
Hi Gary,

Glad that worked for you! But I know what you mean about the checkerboard pattern when you lower the opacity. It's annoying!

That happens because you have no layer beneath the one you're working on. So when you lower the top layer's opacity, there's nothing underneath, and you see a blank working area (the "checkerboard" pattern).

One solution is to create a "temporary layer," one that you'll delete after you're finished editing the opacity of your photo layer. Then you can work above this temporary layer, which will allow you to see what you're doing with your opacity.

Check out this little movie, and then you can read the steps below that will explain what I did there.

http://little-works.com/all_experts/new_layer.mov


1. Make sure the layer you want to work on is unlocked, and you know how to do that.

2. In your Layers palette, click the little page icon to the left of the trash can (or go to the Layer pulldown menu and select Layer>New...>Layer). Personally, I think it's easier to just click the little icon in the palette, but either way will work just fine.

2. That new layer will appear ABOVE your previous layer, so in your layers palette, just select it and drag it BELOW the layer on which you're going to lower the opacity.

3. Fill the bottom layer with any color. In my example I'm using white, which was the foreground color in my color swatches (in my tool palette).

4. To fill the layer, go to the Edit pulldown menu and select Fill.... In the top part of the Fill dialog box, where it says Contents, you can click on that pop-up menu and select either your fore- or background color to use as your fill. (You can also select "Color" from that pop-up menu and choose any color you want from the color picker!)

White was my foreground color when I did the movie, so I just left it at that and clicked OK.

5. The bottom layer filled with white, giving me a solid "base" beneath my photograph. Then I was able to lower the opacity of the photograph on the top layer.

6. When you're finished, just delete the "temporary" layer by selecting it, and dragging it to the little trash can icon in the Layers palette. Then save your document as usual.

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A couple of tips about Photoshop layers:

1. When you create a new document in Photoshop, you can choose the background color. In other words, you can make the initial layer any color you want.

Let's say I want to do some drawing in Photoshop. I would create a new document by going to the File pulldown menu and selecting New. Within that New Document dialog box is a pop-up menu that's labeled "Background Contents." From there I could choose White, Background Color, or Transparent. So whatever choice I make there would reflect the contents of that first layer.

Here's a screen shot:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/create_doc.png


2. If I were to create more layers within that same document, they'd all be created on TOP of that original layer, and they would be transparent -- that is, they'd have that checkerboard pattern. But as mentioned above, you can fill them with any color you choose.

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Hope this helps! Please post back if you need more help or get stuck. And thanks very much for your positive feedback! I'm glad I could help you.

Lisa