Image Opacity (Transparency)?

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Joe Aldrich Author

Level 1

137 points

Image Opacity (Transparency)?

I don't know where to post this question but I put it here because iPhoto is at least a place of images.

Is there a way to control image opacity (or transparency) on my Mac?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Joe Aldrich

Posted on Jan 12, 2015 11:11 AM

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Answer 1

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Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

198,853 points

Jan 12, 2015 11:16 AM in response to Joe Aldrich

iPhoto has no tools to edit opacity in photos, if that is what you want to do.

But the Preview.app, that comes with every mac has a transparency tool.

Use "View > Show Markup Toolbar"

The toolbar has an "Instant Alpha" tool.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

198,853 points

Jan 13, 2015 7:07 AM in response to Joe Aldrich

Hello, Joe.

The "Instant Alpha" works like this:

If you want to make a part of the image transparent, click the region and drag the cursor across the region. This will select pixels with a color similar to the pixels you dragged across. The background should get a reddish color. The selected region will show a "marching ants" outline. To clear the region and make it transparent use the "Edit" menu and select "Delete" or "Cut".

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Answer 3

Joe Aldrich Author

Level 1

137 points

Jan 13, 2015 5:47 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,

Thanks for the timely and helpful response to my question. As I was working with this area of Preview I saw the tool labeled Instant Alpha but I had no idea what Instant Alpha was about and could not get any help from Preview Help. I played with the Instant Alpha tool for a bit but I still don't understand its function. Adjust Color got me mostly what I was looking for as I was able to vary the color intensity of the image I was working with. I still didn't find a way to vary the opacity of the image so that I could be able to see through the image to what was behind it. At one time I was working with a drawing application that offered this feature. I am currently working with EasyDraw 7 for Mac.

Anyway, thanks for the help.

-Joe

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Answer 4

Joe Aldrich Author

Level 1

137 points

Jan 13, 2015 12:55 PM in response to léonie

Thanks yet again, Leonie, for a very clear explanation that I used to play around with Instant Alpha. I see much fun in the future with Instant Alpha as I get more comfortable with it. I started out looking for variable degrees of transparency but Instant Alpha used in conjunction with Color Adjustment will be even better in many respects. I keep learning new things here at 79 years old. How about that?!

-Joe