Hi Rick...
You've seen this image-fade effect a lot right? It's pretty common, and is a staple commodity of the Photoshopper's recipe files. Did you know that these forums have a search function?
Your question is asked several times a week, on average, and a search of the previous threads in this forum using the search string of "fade +image" returns 110 hits. You should find the info, and further links to the answers you seek, if you click the link below.
<
http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx?127@@.ee6b366>
And if you can't find it here, Google can be the best friend you've ever had.
In a search on Google, using the string "Photoshop tutorial fade image transparent", you'll find a whole bunch more <
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&i e=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&as_qdr=all&q=Photoshop+tut orial+fade+image+transparent&btnG=Search>.