Technical data

72 Using Layers and Masks
The region within the oval
selection is our area of interest. To
create a vignette effect—a gradual
fade-in from the edges—we’ll want
to make the pixels at the edge
transparent, grading in to opaque
pixels in the part of the picture we
want to keep. Feathering the
selection will produce this effect.
Feathering proceeds outwards from
the edges of a selection, so to
feather within the region we’ve
defined, we’ll first contract the
selection and then feather out from
there.
q Choose Modify>Contract... from the Select menu, and type in 20
as the number of pixels. Click OK.
q Now choose Modify>Feather... from the Select menu, and again
enter 20.
There’s no immediately visible effect on the image, but we have altered
the selection, as you’ll see...
q Choose Add Mask>Reveal Selection from the Layers menu.
Right away the effect of the mask created from
the selection becomes clear—literally! The gray-
and-white checkerboard pattern shows the
transparent regions of this single-layer image.
You can see where the feathering has produced a
gradation of opacity.
q Merge the mask with the underlying layer by
choosing Merge Mask from the Layers
menu.
Now let’s put a mat around the image.
q Choose New... from the Layers menu and
click OK to create a new layer.
q On the Layer Manager tab, drag the new layer down below the first
one so that it’s on the bottom. (You still won’t see any change in
the image.) Make the new bottom layer the active layer, and press
Ctrl+D to remove the selection (if there still is one).