How to Make a Fading Clipping Mask

A clipping mask is an object or image that you put over another image in a graphics software program to modify the shape and opacity of the image below. Placing a heart-shaped mask over a wedding photographer to produce a vignette is an example of how a clipping mask can be used. Adding fade to the clipping mask produces an additional effect within the vignette, such as a pink fade, that filling a gradient in the mask achieves. The graphics program you use should allow you to work in layers, apply a gradient to a layer, and make it a mask.

Instructions1 Open a graphics software program. Load the image file to which you want to apply a fading clipping mask.

2 Copy a separate mask image to the team clipboard by selecting the image file and clicking "Edit" and then "Copy".

3 Create a new layer above the main image layer. Make the new layer transparent or white. It will be the masking layer.

4 Copy the image masking service to the mask layer by selecting the layer and then clicking "Edit" and then "Paste". If you prefer to create your own mask shape, create a shaped object using the drawing tools of the graphics program. For a rectangle or square, click on the rectangle tool and stretch the rectangle on the layer. For a circle or oval, select the circular shape tool, and then drag and drop the shape onto the layer in the same way. You can adjust these shapes after they are "dropped" by moving the square adjustment points on the sides of the object.

5 Select and remove parts of the mask image to create transparent sections on the mask layer if desired. Transparent sections will function as holes in the mask.

6 Select the mask layer, then click the program command to create a mask in the software program's layer palette. The command varies between graphics programs. This action adds a mask icon, which will appear as a separate square on the mask layer behind the image square.

7 Select the gradient tool from the software program's toolbox and apply a black to white gradient to the mask layer. Drag the gradient tool across the mask layer to apply the gradient. You should see Graduated, or Gradient, shading will appear on the layer in the direction the tool applied, progressing from dark to light.

8 Experiment with the gradient shading and opacity of the mask layer until you achieve the desired attenuation effect on the original image layer below. You can also change the direction or intensity of the gradient with the gradient tool to vary the effect. Experiment with different shades of the slope or opacity of the layer.

Tips and Warnings

If you want to make an image disappear into another image, place the first image on the mask layer on top of the other image, and apply the gradient to the entire frame.
For Fade to black or white or any other color, use that color in the background or in another layer below the masking layer.

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