Handling transparencies

Transparency is a lack of pigment or color, such that you can see through one feature to the feature beneath. You can think of this as being similar to tinted or stained glass; some light is allowed to pass through and reflect off what's inside. When used right, transparency can help emphasize or de-emphasize features in a map composition. It can also be used to blend two layers to look as if they are one layer.

Getting ready

This recipe demonstrates transparency for both vectors and rasters, so we'll need an example of each. The lakes.shp and elevlid_D782_6.tif layers will work well for demonstration purposes. Load both of these layers in a fresh project, putting lake.shp on top.

How to do it…

1. With a vector layer loaded, open Properties and the Style tab.
2. On the right-hand side of the dialog, you will see a Transparency slider at 0% (this means 100% solid or opaque).
3. Adjust the slider to the right and apply the changes to see them in the map:
   

   Tip

   Using...