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AlphaToys

Sixteen filters for working with transparency and alpha channels.

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Original AlphaToys box artwork
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Examples

Grayscale Girl - Before.
Grayscale Girl - Before.
Grayscale Girl.
Grayscale Girl.
Hands Holding Baby Feet - Before.
Hands Holding Baby Feet - Before.
Hands Holding Baby Feet.
Hands Holding Baby Feet.
Surfer - Before.
Surfer - Before.
Surfer.
Surfer.
Belly Dancer - Before.
Belly Dancer - Before.
Belly Dancer.
Belly Dancer.
Softfocus Girl - Before.
Softfocus Girl - Before.
Softfocus Girl.
Softfocus Girl.
Elephants - Before.
Elephants - Before.
Elephants.
Elephants.
Original example notes

Click on a thumbnail to view full-size.

Example Description

Before
After
  1. Copy the original image to a new layer.
  2. Apply "Bright to Opaque" AlphaToys™ filter.
  3. Apply "Gaussian Blur" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel.
  4. Mix the new layer using "Overlay" mxing mode.

To eliminate the whitewash effect, you could simply lower brightness of the source image.

Before

By Photos8.com
After
  1. Copy the original image to two new layers (named "dark" and "bright" here).
  2. On the "bright" layer;
    1. Apply "Bright to Opaque White" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Unsharp Mask" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel.
    3. Apply "Brightness/Contrast" AlphaToys filter with low brightness.
  3. On the "dark" layer;
    1. Apply "Dark to Opaque Black" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Unsharp Mask" AlphaToys filter.
    3. Increase saturation of the layer by +75%.
  4. Mix the layers with the original layer.
    1. The "bright" layer goes at the top, with normal mixing mode.
    2. The "dark" layer goes in the middle, with "Overlay" mixing mode.

Before
After
  1. Copy the original image to two new layers (named "dark" and "bright" here).
  2. On the "dark" layer;
    1. Apply "Dark to Opaque" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Unsharp Mask" AlphaToys filter.
    3. Increase saturation of the layer by +75%.
  3. On the "bright" layer;
    1. Apply "Bright to Opaque White" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Brightness/Contrast" AlphaToys filter with low brightness and high contrast.
    3. Apply "Unsharp Mask" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel.
  4. Add a single-color layer with a medium saturated sky-blue color.

If you use Smart Objects, you can go back at any time and change any of the filters afterwards.

Before
After
  1. Copy the original image to two new layers (named "dark" and "bright" here).
  2. On the "dark" layer;
    1. Apply "Dark to Opaque Black" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Brightness/Contrast" AlphaToys filter.
    3. Apply "Gaussian Blur" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel with a small radius.
    4. Apply "Posterize" AlphaToys filter with 4 levels.
  3. On the "bright" layer;
    1. Apply "Bright to Opaque White" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Brightness/Contrast" AlphaToys filter with very low brightness and medium contrast.
    3. Apply "Unsharp Mask" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel.
  4. Add color by using a new layer and drawing in the color by hand with a brush tool.

Use multiple color layers for easier (re-)editing.

Before
After
  1. Copy the original image to a new layer.
  2. Apply "Bright to Opaque White" AlphaToys filter.
  3. Apply "Gaussian Blur" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel.
  4. Mix the new layer using "Screen" mxing mode.
The effect has been overdone for demonstration purposes. If you apply the effect more subtly, the results will look more realistic.

Before

By Photos8.com
After		 Complex composition of two photographs of elephants.
  1. Cutout of elephant photo 1;
    1. Apply "Dark to Opaque Black" AlphaToys filter.
    2. Apply "Brightness/Contrast" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel with increased brightness and contrast.
    3. Apply "Gaussian Blur" AlphaToys filter to Alpha channel with radius of 1.
    4. Apply "Posterize" AlphaToys filter with 2 levels.
    5. Add Photoshop™ builtin effects "Outer glow" and "Stroke".
  2. Dark shading on cutout;
    1. Copy of elephant photo 1 using selection of the cutout layer, mixed with "Multiply" mixing mode.
  3. Background image of elephant photo 2 was only slightly manipulated for color and positioning.
This image was created using Smart Objects to allow iterative tweaking of the Gaussian Blur and Brightness/Contrast AlphaToys filters, in order to get a good ratio between cutout and background.