Page 137 - Photoshop for Lightroom Users – Scott Kelby 2nd Edition

Step Four:
To blend the two images, our first step is to click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers panel (it’s the third icon from the left and is
circled here in red). This adds a white layer mask thumbnail to the right of your sheet music layer in the Layers panel. Get the Gradient tool from the
Toolbox (G; it’s icon looks like a rectangular black-to-white gradient, so…ya know), then go up to the Options Bar, click on the little down-facing arrow to
the right of the gradient thumbnail to bring up the Gradient Picker, and choose the Black, White gradient (it’s the third one from the left, in the top row). To
the immediate right of the gradient thumbnail are five different gradient styles. Click on the first one, which is the standard Linear Gradient. Now, take the
Gradient tool and click-and-drag it from just inside the left edge of your sheet music image, over to the right (as shown here. By the way, I added that red
line with the arrow here to help you see which way to drag. When you drag the Gradient tool, you’ll just get that thin line right above the red line), and this
creates the graduated blend between the two images (as seen here). The farther you drag the Gradient tool, the longer the transition between the solid part
of the image and the transparent part.