How to Adjust Opacity in Adobe Photoshop

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Increase or decrease the opacity of an image, text, or other object on your PC or Mac
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This wikiHow article will teach you how to adjust the opacity of layers in Adobe Photoshop. Changing the opacity of a layer allows you to see or obscure images in the layer(s) below it.

Things You Should Know

  • You can a layer more transparent or opaque using the Opacity slider.
  • To find the opacity slider, click the layer in the Layers panel, then click the down-arrow next to "Opacity."
  • Drag the arrow left to decrease opacity, and right to increase it.

Steps

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    Do so by pressing CTRL+O (Windows) or ⌘ +O (Mac), selecting the image file you wish to open, and then clicking Open in the lower-right corner of the dialog box.
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    If you don't see the Layers panel, follow these quick steps:
    • Click the Window menu at the top of the screen.
    • Click Layers to show the panel.
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    You should now see the Layers panel on the right side of the screen. If the tab isn't active, click the Layers tab to display it.
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    Each layer is listed with a thumbnail in the lower part of the "Layers" menu window.
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    This icon is to the right of the percentage next to Opacity near the top of the "Layers" menu. A slider will appear below.
    • If the Opacity options are grayed out and you cannot click on them, you may need to first unlock the layer you have selected. If a layer is locked there will be a padlock icon to the right of the layer name. To unlock the layer, simply click the padlock icon.
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    Drag the arrow to the left to make the layer more transparent (lower percentage) or to the right to make it more opaque (higher percentage).
    • If a padlock icon appears in a layer, it's locked or partially-locked. In this case, double-click on the layer, and set the opacity percentage in the dialog box that pops up.
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Community Q&A

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  • Question
    What does reducing the opacity of a layer in a Photoshop image do?
    Elissa Schwartz
    Community Answer
    Opacity refers to how dense a layer is. If it is at 100% opacity, you can't see through it at all. The lower the opacity, the more you will be able to see through the layer.
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      • If you do want to use trial-and-error, you can manually type a number in the box which contains the opacity %, as this will also change the opacity.
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      • Photoshop will change the opacity on-the-fly, which means that you will be able to observe the opacity as you change the sliding scale instead of using trial-and-error.
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