Making an Image into a Usable Web Background.

 Ok, you have this great image and you want to make it the backdrop for your company web page.  Let's pick this one.

Photo of a building.

Beautiful.  But look what happens when you use it as a web backdrop.

OMG you can't read a thing!  So let's try playing with the contrast...

brightness+contrast

 Not this!  It's washed out all the details!  Maybe the levels...

 Closer, but there must be a better way.  And there is!  The problem is that we're thinking like engineers and not artists.  Try this.

Add a layer of White over the top of the image.  Then set the transparency of that layer to about 85%  This trick also works for dark backgrounds, just fill the new layer with black.

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Bryan Valencia is a contributing editor and founder of Visual Studio Journey.  He owns and operates Software Services, a web design and hosting company in Manteca, California.