Key concept: Transparency & Opacity
You may have searched for:
background transparency, clarity, filmy, gauzy, layer, opaque, opaqueness, opacity, see-through, sheer
Transparency & Opacity
In digital photography, transparency is the functionality that supports transparent areas in an image or image layer. Certain image formats do not support transparency. Opacity is the extent to which something blocks light. You can change the opacity of layers, filters, and effects so that more (or less) of the underlying image shows through.
The white rectangle becomes transparent when its opacity is set to 50%. Note that the white triangle’s opacity is set to 100% so it is opaque, or not transparent.
Photoshop tools
Tools used to change transparency
- Adjustment and fill layers
- Image > Mode > Indexed Color, Transparency option
- Image > Mode > Color Table
- Layer mask
Tools used to change the opacity of a layer
Tools used to preserve transparency
Lightroom tools
Related concepts
- Adjustment layer
- Aliasing & Anti-aliasing
- Background
- Blur
- Composite
- Flattening
- Gradient
- Layer
- Vignette
About the author
Adobe Systems Incorporated
