How do you make a collage of semi-transparent images?

[keysol]

I've noticed how on many web sites there will be a beautiful collage of semi-transparent images.
IE.:

http://www.villaguz.com/servicios.html

http://www.usbr.gov/main/index.html

http://exduck.com/esxpage/collage_page1.htm

They appear to be layered and one image will blend into another. Being semi-transparent we can still clearly see the outline of the underlying images. Can I do this in Fireworks 4 and if so what would be the steps. Or, is there another software application better suited for this type of collage?

 

[deecee]

first get the images in the positions you want them...then you need to select each image and in properties fill go from anti-alias to feather and that will blend the image..then you can play with opacity in the layer toolbar as well

 

[keysol]

Hi,

Thanks for the info but I still have a bit of a problem.
I've gone through the steps and managed very well the opacity part but I can't seem to feather the images. I selected Window --> Fill --> chose Solid from the popup --> Feather from the Edge popup and then selcted 75% for the amount of feathering. This seems to have no effect on the image. I then noticed that even if I select an image, as soon as I go into the fill property and select feather from the edge popup my image is deselected!! I'm working with a jpg file. Could that be the problem or is there an additional step that I'm missing?

 

[keysol]

Hi,
Here I am answering my own question. I found a few examples that will surely be of help to anyone who faces the same difficulty.

Feathering images in Fireworks

Bruce Newman wrote:
>
> i know it can be done in photoshop, haven't seen it available in FW

One way to do it in Fireworks is to double click on the bitmap to put
Fireworks in Bitmap Edit mode, then double click on one of the marquee
tools. Set up the amount of feathering in the Tool Options panel, then
drag out your marquee. Choose Modify > Marquee > Select Inverse. Delete
the selection. The edges of the bitmap will be feathered without
destroying any pixels of the other objects on the canvas.

______________________________________________________________________
From what I can see, FW works somewhat like Photoshop with some slight
differences, beginning with the menu names. Curious, I just tried it.

I created a new FW image, then opened up a picture file separately, and
dragging the picture over, into the new drawing.

After placing the picture on the new FW page, use the marquee, lasso, or wand
tools to "select" the area of the picture that is to be feathered.

Then go to the menu and select: Modify > Marquee > Feather...

In the dialog box that displays, enter the number of pixels to feather the
image by

While the shape of the marquee changed, to reflect the feathering, this did not
do away with the unwanted portions of the image.

To do that, I inverted the selection, then deleted the extra, leaving the
feathered image.

There may be a better way to do it, but that's what I discovered in about 5
minutes of experimentation.

Regards,

Adam Abraham
___________________________________________________________________________

Of course you can do it in Fireworks! and more ways than Photoshop too!

1. Marquee method :
a. Draw a marquee around the area you wish to add a feather to...
b. Choose Modify > Marquee > Feather...
c. Enter the feather setting in the dialog that comes up. Click OK.
d. Choose Modify > Marquee > Select Inverse.
e. Press Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Macintosh) to delete the selection.

2. Mask method :
a. Select one of the basic path shape tools or the Pen tool and draw the
shape of the desired feathered object on the canvas over the image.
b. Once you have finished the shape so that it is a closed path or
rectangle, Choose Window > Fill to open the Fill Panel.
c. Click the Fill Category pop-up on the Fill panel and choose Solid. Set
the Edge to Feathered and choose Black from the pop-up color box at the top
right of
the panel.
d. Change to the Pointer tool and press the Shift key. While holding the
Shift key down, click on the image behind the mask so that both objects are
selected.
(the Object panel reports "Object , (two objects) on its title
bar.
e. Choose Modify > Mask > Group as Mask to create a mask group.

enthusiastically,
mark haynes
macromedia tech support