Radders - fade image into the background

[radders]

Hello,

 

I am trying to make a foreground image fade into the background. To do this I tried 3 approaches:

1. Use the Vignette tool. This gave a good fade of the foreground image edges, but against a black, not transparent, background.
2. Use a 'fade edges' plug-in. This also gave a good foreground image, but the the fading occurred in straight lines, not a circle, around the foreground.
3. Use a gradient tool. This allowed a circular fading, but suffered from the fact that the gradient started at the centre of the foreground and continued linearly across it.
   I would have preferred a large area in the middle of the foreground to not be faded at all, with fading starting a little way from the centre.

 

What would be ideal is for one of the following refinements:

1. The existing vignette tool allows the background to be any chosen colour - including transparent - instead of just black.
2. The fade edges plugin allows a circular 'edge' instead of top, left, right or bottom straight edges.
3. the gradient tool has a starting radius added which determines how far out from the centre of the image that the fading begins.

 

If any of these options already exist, I couldn't find them.

If they don't, what do people think about adding one or more of the above suggestions?

 

Thanks, Dave