[Gimp-user] Gradual opacity and photo stretching

[rich404 <forums gimpusers com>]

> Check out this 2 snipping tool file I made of 2 versions of my CD back
> cover. The one on the right, it's hard to read the text especially
> where the black boots and dark areas are. The one on the left, I used
> opacity on the pic to fade the pic into the background, so the text is
> more readable.
>
> I wonder how hard it would be to have a combination of the 2. In other
> words reduced opacity on the left where the text is and full opacity
> on the right where the picture is and a middle transition blending
> between the 2?
>
> I thought also it would be nice to move the pic to the right so you
> see more of the girl and on the left where it's only ocean and land to
> maybe stretch the pic to make up for the blank space I'd get on the
> right if I moved the pic over. I used the entire pic to fill this back
> panel, no cropping.


What you need is a layer mask for the background layer. see
https://docs.gimp.org/en/gimp-layer-mask-add.html

Add a white layer mask Layer -> Mask -> Add Layer mask. Anything marked white in
the mask is opaque, anything black is transparent, shades of grey various
transparency.

The points to note are in the layer dialogue, an active layer has a white
border, inactive a black border

see: https://i.imgur.com/DyMjc1C.jpg

Click in the layer mask to make it active.

Draw across the canvas a FG/BG gradient. FG can be a dark grey BG is white. 

The shape (linear/circular..),start & end point, offset and direction of the
gradient tool all matter and make a difference.

If you do not like the result, fill with white and start again. Because of the
transparency, put a white layer underneath.

see: https://i.imgur.com/zOamDfl.jpg

Why use a layer mask? It is non-destructive. 

Save your work as a Gimp xcf file, keeps all layers, masks, guides etc. When
finished export to your required format, png, jpeg, tiff.

Alternative for your image, change the text colour to white.

-- 
rich404 (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)