Fading Help

[cakerchris]

Hi, I am new to this forum and also new to using paint.net application.  I am trying to make my wedding invitations and I am having some trouble.  I have an image that I want as the background and would like to fade a section in the middle so that I can add text to the invitation.  I only want to fade it to the point where you can read the text but you can still see the image behind it.  If someone could help me out it would be most appreciated.

[Cc4FuzzyHuggles]

Hello.

Do you have any images you can share so we can see an example of what you are working with? (see this thread for uploading images, see it's last page too for more how tos)

 

There are several ways to fade things with paint.net,

 

The gradient tool is a good way to fade things. For you and what you want to do, you might like to set it to radial or diamond. See this tutorial for getting started on how to fade things with the gradient tool : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/19517-beginner-image-merging-image-heavy/

 

I would also recommend these plugins.

First, how to install plugins : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/1708-how-to-install-pluginsgeneral-plugin-troubleshooting-thread/

 

Alpha Blur : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/24280-alpha-blur-v2-2012-03-05/

TR's Edge Fader Extreme : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/26479-trs-edge-fader-extreme-v-505-dec-262013-pm/

Feather : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/2140-feather-plugin-now-with-source/

AA's Assistant which is part of this pack : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/16643-dpys-plugin-pack-2014-05-04/

 

Also, if you are interested in having your text easier to see, you may like these plugins.

Outline Object : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=8318

Drop Shadow, which is part of this plugin pack : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=8375

 

And you might like this tutorial or get ideas of how to do things from it : http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/29302-soft-romantic-dreamy-pictures-with-coloured-aura/

 

Important tip, always have your text on it's own layer.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Cc4FuzzyHuggles

[cakerchris]

Thank you for the help.  I ended up using 3 layers.

 

1st layer was the background/main image

 

2nd layer was a colour that i managed to match the main colour of the background and then made it transparent so you can still see the main image but it covered it enough so you can read the text clearly

 

3rd layer was the text and it turned out perfect

 

the problem i was having before was the fact that I didn't think about putting the text on its own layer