User guide

Layers, Masks, and Blending 25
Adjusting opacity/transparency
Opacity and transparency describe essentially the same thing. They both
describe the extent to which a particular pixel's color contributes to the overall
color at that point in the image. Fully opaque pixels contribute their full color
value to the image. Fully transparent pixels are invisible: they contribute nothing
to the image. In-between pixels are called semi-transparent.
Fully opaque text
(100% Opacity)
Semi-transparent text
(50% Opacity)
You'll primarily encounter opacity in one of these two contexts:
• As a property of the pixels laid down by individual tools (Paintbrush,
Clone, Eraser, Fill, Smudge, QuickShape, and more).
The map of opacity values for all the pixels on a particular layer is
stored along with the layer and is known as its
• As a property of individual standard layers (in example above). The
layer's opacity setting affects all the pixels on the layer, and is
cumulative with the opacity of individual pixels already there.