Re: [Gimp-user] Extreme newby needs some help please!

[Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre prokoudine gmail com>]

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 5:50 PM, Jessica Tomlinson wrote:

> am still quite foggy on this whole selecting with a layer mask thing.  Why
> would one want some pixels to be partially selected, or partially
> transparent?

Jessica,

There are many uses for that. In general, this way you can make
gradual transitions between two layers.

For example, a typical sunset photo has a sky that looks OK, but the
ground/water is a bit too dark.

You can duplicate the original layer, then raise brightness of one of
the layers, then combine them via a layer mask, where selection
gradually changes. As the result, both sky and ground/water will look
just like when you were taking the picture.

Here is another example of, ahem, artistic use of this feature:
http://prokoudine.info/gallery/images/20060901222040_img_0450.jpg

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org