Let's now use transparency and layers to create some custom effects over a picture, as can often be done for covers.
Create a new document and display the Layers window from the Windows menu.
This window will already contain a line called Background. You can add a layer by clicking on the + button at the bottom left-hand side of the window: it will be called New Layer 1. You can rename it by double-clicking on its name.
On the first page of it, add an Image Frame that covers the entire page.
Then draw a rectangular shape that covers almost half of the page height.
Duplicate this layer by clicking on the middle button placed at the bottom of the Layers window.
Select the visibility checkbox (it is the first column headed with an eye icon) of this layer to hide it.
We'll modify the transparency of each object. Click on New Layer 1 to specify that you want to work on this layer; otherwise you won't be able to select its frames.
The frames or shapes you'll...