Opacity

Hey all,

Can anyone please take a look here. I want this house image to be the background for a web page. In the middle of the image will go various text (ie different web page, different text). In order to make this text more readable, I want to fade this central area of the image where the text will go, maybe using opacity. So I created a mask = the outer area of the image is 100% opacity, while the inner area of the image is 20% opacity. But reducing the opacity seems to have the unwanted side effect of creating a grey film or box.

I want to say 'fade the selected area' but it seems that I am saying 'turn the selected area grey'. If I use say 50% opacity instead of 20%, the unwanted side effect is less strong but basically the same.

In the 'Marrakech' image, the face fades but there is no film. Maybe my problem is that my faded area layer needs some kind of layer beneath it but I am not sure what.

Any suggestions please?

Thank you

hi,
just a novice.... but i was thinking...
1. make aselection based on your mask
2. add a blank layer and fill the selection with white or any color for that matter
note on the selection-- an idea apply a feather .....
3. then adjust the opacity of the white fill layer ...