[Magnum]

In this topic, I will be taking requests for tutorials. If you see something I make and you want to know how I did it, ask in here. Don't ask "how did you make that whole sig?" That's not what this is for. Only ask about a specific effect, technique, or section of a sig. Also, this is not a sig request thread. If you have a request, PM me or mention it in another thread as usual. Zone, if you would be so kind as to make this a sticky, I would appreciate it.

To get things started, I put together a quick tutorial on blending with layer masks and gradients.

I started off with this Guarnere pic from BoB.
[img]http://web.syr.edu/~adkirsch/guarnorig.jpg[/img]

Next, I added a layer mask by going to Layer > Add Layer Mask > Hide All. The entire layer should become transparent and whatever was under it will be visible.

Now, set up your gradient. If the paint bucket is selected in your toolbar, hold down the button and select the gradient. Then, select the "foreground to transparent" preset in the gradient menu. (circled in red with green arrow) Select the gradient style you want. This will most likely be the linear or circular style, which are boxed in with green. Select white as your foreground color, as indicated by the red arrow.
[img]http://web.syr.edu/~adkirsch/gradientmenu.jpg[/img]

Now, make sure that the layer mask is selected instead of the actual layer image. This will be in the layer palette. Note that the layer mask is black. Anything black in the mask will be hidden, white will be visible, and gray will be partially transparent.
[img]http://web.syr.edu/~adkirsch/layerpalette.jpg[/img]

This is the important part. Use the gradient tool on the layer mask. I used the linear gradient by dragging from the right edge about 3/4 of the way to the left. This will completely reveal the right side, and partially reveal the rest of it in a decreasing manner to the left. I put a grid under the Guarnere layer to show how the transparency works. You can get a lot of good blending by experimenting with the different gradient styles and the length of the gradient that you use. Be careful not to overuse it and end up with a bunch of overlapping messy pictures.
[img]http://web.syr.edu/~adkirsch/guarnmod.jpg[/img]