transparent layer question

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 22:03:01 -0400, "SlipKid" wrote:

I have Photoshop CS and here is what I am tring to do. I open a picture in photoshop. I want to add a rectangle across the top of the photo. I want the rectangle to be transparent, be able to see the through the rectangle to the photo. I want the rectangle to be a solid color not a gradient patern. Thanks

Create the rectangle with the rectangular marquee tool in a layer placed above the photo. Select the paint bucket, set the opacity to a very low figure, and fill the rectangle. If you want the rectangle to have a border, use stroke before you fill the rectangle.

—

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

Create the rectangle with the rectangular marquee tool in a layer placed above the photo. Select the paint bucket, set the opacity to a very low figure, and fill the rectangle. If you want the rectangle to have a border, use stroke before you fill the rectangle.

This is not the best way to do that.

Many beginners to Photoshop believe that the paint bucket is a Fill tool, and it is used to fill an area with color. In some other graphics programs, the paint bucket is a fill tool. Not in Photoshop.

In Photoshop, the paint bucket is a combination of the Magic Wand and the Fill command. What it does is it examines the color of the pixel you clicked on, and then it spreads out in all directions, filling as it goes, until it hits an area of different color.

If you are on a blank layer, then it fills the entire selection. If not, then it might or might not, depending on what you click on.

Do not use the Paint Bucket to fill a selection with color; that is not what it’s for. In Photoshop, it’s easy to fill a selection with solid color. You do not need any tool on the Toolbar at all. Instead, you hold down the ALT key on your computer’s keyboard and press the Delete or Backspace key.

To make a transparent rectangle is the easiest thing in the world. Create a new layer. Make a rectangular selection. Hold down ALT on the keyboard. Press Delete. Now the layer is filled with a solid rectangle.

To make the rectangle transparent, you simply change the layer’s Opacity by dragging the Opacity slider in the Layers palette. You can vary it until you get exactly what you want.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 04:44:26 GMT, tacit wrote:

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

Create the rectangle with the rectangular marquee tool in a layer placed above the photo. Select the paint bucket, set the opacity to a very low figure, and fill the rectangle. If you want the rectangle to have a border, use stroke before you fill the rectangle.

This is not the best way to do that.

Many beginners to Photoshop believe that the paint bucket is a Fill tool, and it is used to fill an area with color. In some other graphics programs, the paint bucket is a fill tool. Not in Photoshop.
In Photoshop, the paint bucket is a combination of the Magic Wand and the Fill command. What it does is it examines the color of the pixel you clicked on, and then it spreads out in all directions, filling as it goes, until it hits an area of different color.

If you are on a blank layer, then it fills the entire selection. If not, then it might or might not, depending on what you click on.
Do not use the Paint Bucket to fill a selection with color; that is not what it’s for. In Photoshop, it’s easy to fill a selection with solid color. You do not need any tool on the Toolbar at all. Instead, you hold down the ALT key on your computer’s keyboard and press the Delete or Backspace key.

To make a transparent rectangle is the easiest thing in the world. Create a new layer. Make a rectangular selection. Hold down ALT on the keyboard. Press Delete. Now the layer is filled with a solid rectangle.
To make the rectangle transparent, you simply change the layer’s Opacity by dragging the Opacity slider in the Layers palette. You can vary it until you get exactly what you want.

Certainly another way to skin the same cat, but I’m curious as to why you discourage the use of the paint bucket to fill the area. I’m also curious why you say the paint bucket is not a fill tool.

The selection in this case is a on a separate layer, so it will not hit an area of a different color. Adding the new layer over the image was in my instructions.

If you use the paint bucket on a selection made on the image layer, the partial filling is certainly a problem. My instructions would not cause this problem, though.

Using your technique, you get a uniform fill in the selection made on the image layer, but that’s the wrong way to do it. It alters the image layer. Using the new layer over the image layer allows the user to discard the layer without discarding the image layer if the results are not wanted later.

Using the layer slider to change opacity is a better way to change the opacity than using the opacity setting because the user can adjust the opacity on the fly and re-adjust the opacity until he gets what he wants. That’s a better skinning technique.

I don’t understand your comments about the paint bucket, though. I experimented with some new, blank, layers filling them with both techniques. I can’t see a difference.

Your suggestions are usually good ones, and I’d be interested to know the reason behind your comments.

—

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

I don’t understand your comments about the paint bucket, though. I experimented with some new, blank, layers filling them with both techniques. I can’t see a difference.

On a blank layer, you won’t see a difference. It’s only on a layer that is not blank that you see a difference.

I discourage using the Paint Bucket tool as a "fill" tool for two reasons:

1. It’s slower and more clumsy than hitting Alt-Backspace; and

2. People do not understand it or what it’s intended to be used for, and as a result end up building bad habits and end up surprised when it does not do what the expect it to.

The confusion comes from the fact that in most graphics programs, the Paint Bucket tool is the general-purpose fill tool; it fills an area with color regardless of the contents of that area. As a result, people come to Photoshop believing that the Paint Bucket does the same thing, and are surprised and often confused when it does not.

I’ve sta and watched people make a selection in an image, then click with the Paint Bucket, look confused when only part of the selection is filled with color, click again, fill another part of the selection,a nd then keep clicking and clicking and clicking with the tool until the entire area is filled with color, all the while not realizing that it isn’t working the way they want it to because the Paint Bucket does not do what they think it does.

If you develop good habits from the beginning, understanding the way each tool functions and the types of tasks it is best suited for, you use Photoshop much more effectively.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:12:24 GMT, tacit wrote:

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

I don’t understand your comments about the paint bucket, though. I experimented with some new, blank, layers filling them with both techniques. I can’t see a difference.

On a blank layer, you won’t see a difference. It’s only on a layer that is not blank that you see a difference.

Oh, OK. I’d specified creating a new, blank, layer to use, so the comment confused me.

I discourage using the Paint Bucket tool as a "fill" tool for two reasons:

1. It’s slower and more clumsy than hitting Alt-Backspace; and

Well….debatable. If the tool bar is open, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.

2. People do not understand it or what it’s intended to be used for, and as a result end up building bad habits and end up surprised when it does not do what the expect it to.

Valid point.

The confusion comes from the fact that in most graphics programs, the Paint Bucket tool is the general-purpose fill tool; it fills an area with color regardless of the contents of that area. As a result, people come to Photoshop believing that the Paint Bucket does the same thing, and are surprised and often confused when it does not.

I haven’t used any other programs for this purpose, so I never had the opportunity to acquire bad habits like this.

I have CorelDraw9 (and use it for certain things), but I’ve never used Corel Photo-Paint because I’ve never seen the need. I never did bother with PSP. I suppose it’s a good thing to try different programs just in case they offer something advantageous, but the comfortable, familiar, way is quicker.

If you develop good habits from the beginning, understanding the way each tool functions and the types of tasks it is best suited for, you use Photoshop much more effectively.

Ever have a situation where a particular tool just never works right for you? I can never seem to get the Sponge>Desaturate tool to do what I want. I often photograph sterling silver spoons on a red background, and the red is reflected in the bowls. I try to suck the red out, but it never works right.

—

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Slick!

thanks!

Ever have a situation where a particular tool just never works right for you? I can never seem to get the Sponge>Desaturate tool to do what I want. I often photograph sterling silver spoons on a red background, and the red is reflected in the bowls. I try to suck the red out, but it never works right.

It’s a tricky way to do this, non-retroactive and rough.. that’s my point.
You’d better do this with curves, and a selection of the spoons, and control the black point and the white point (and the grey one).
Don’t forget to shoot a grey card (that helps) and if possible using lightnings and reflective surfaces as elements of neutrality. That’s the real job of the phtographer 🙂

There’s and expert here, Mike Russell
(It’s strange that he didn’t answer first.)

HTH
houba houba
Le Marsu

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

Ever have a situation where a particular tool just never works right for you? I can never seem to get the Sponge>Desaturate tool to do what I want. I often photograph sterling silver spoons on a red background, and the red is reflected in the bowls. I try to suck the red out, but it never works right.

Really? What happens?

I’d probably handle a situation like that by using the Pen tool to put a path around the spoons, then removing the cast with Hue and Saturation or Selective Color. That assumes, of course, that I couldn’t photograph them on a neutral background to begin with.

—
Art, photography, shareware, polyamory, literature, kink: all at http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:13:39 GMT, tacit wrote:

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

Ever have a situation where a particular tool just never works right for you? I can never seem to get the Sponge>Desaturate tool to do what I want. I often photograph sterling silver spoons on a red background, and the red is reflected in the bowls. I try to suck the red out, but it never works right.

Really? What happens?

It just doesn’t suck up the red.

I’d probably handle a situation like that by using the Pen tool to put a path around the spoons, then removing the cast with Hue and Saturation or Selective Color. That assumes, of course, that I couldn’t photograph them on a neutral background to begin with.

I shoot in a soft box with the silver items on a red sheet and the camera aimed down on them. It’s only spoons that are a problem since the bowls act like mirrors and pick up a "u" of red at the tip of the bowl. It’s just that "u" that I want to desaturate. I’d get the same effect with any color sheet under the object, but the "u" would just be a different color.

The "u" is a very narrow band, and making a selection is exacting. The sponge should just blend the "u" in, but it just doesn’t work for me.

I can shoot on a neutral background and eliminate the problem, but the finished photo isn’t as striking. If I shoot on a neutral sheet, I have to cut out the background and place the image on a layer of filled red to achieve the same effect. That takes too long when I’m doing several pictures.

Usually I can minimize the problem by repositioning the lights around the soft box, but that requires a test run. Again, it’s time.

—

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

"SlipKid" wrote in message

I have Photoshop CS and here is what I am tring to do. I open a picture in photoshop. I want to add a rectangle across the top of the photo. I want the rectangle to be transparent, be able to see the through the rectangle to the photo. I want the rectangle to be a solid color not a gradient patern.
Thanks

"Tony Cooper" wrote in message

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 15:12:24 GMT, tacit wrote:

In article ,
Tony Cooper wrote:

I don’t understand your comments about the paint bucket, though. I experimented with some new, blank, layers filling them with both techniques. I can’t see a difference.

On a blank layer, you won’t see a difference. It’s only on a layer that is not blank that you see a difference.

Oh, OK. I’d specified creating a new, blank, layer to use, so the comment confused me.

I discourage using the Paint Bucket tool as a "fill" tool for two reasons:

1. It’s slower and more clumsy than hitting Alt-Backspace; and

Well….debatable. If the tool bar is open, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other.

2. People do not understand it or what it’s intended to be used for, and as a result end up building bad habits and end up surprised when it does not do what the expect it to.

Valid point.

The confusion comes from the fact that in most graphics programs, the Paint Bucket tool is the general-purpose fill tool; it fills an area with color regardless of the contents of that area. As a result, people come to Photoshop believing that the Paint Bucket does the same thing, and are surprised and often confused when it does not.

I haven’t used any other programs for this purpose, so I never had the opportunity to acquire bad habits like this.

I have CorelDraw9 (and use it for certain things), but I’ve never used Corel Photo-Paint because I’ve never seen the need. I never did bother with PSP. I suppose it’s a good thing to try different programs just in case they offer something advantageous, but the comfortable, familiar, way is quicker.

If you develop good habits from the beginning, understanding the way each tool functions and the types of tasks it is best suited for, you use Photoshop much more effectively.

Ever have a situation where a particular tool just never works right for you? I can never seem to get the Sponge>Desaturate tool to do what I want. I often photograph sterling silver spoons on a red background, and the red is reflected in the bowls. I try to suck the red out, but it never works right.

—

Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

wrong tools again
mask the area to be affected
try an adjustment layer called selective color
choose the red channel in the drop down
move the sliders to eliminate magenta
try monochrome, see what you like the look of

or use the Hue/saturation adjustment layer
move center slider to left to desaturate
if you like the sponge, make sure your brush size is large enough to cover the area and
the desaturate tool has a slider to determine it’s strength, try moving the percent up