Photoshop elements help. making a background picture lighter

[mommyof3princess27]

i justgot my Photoshop Elements 10 and I am having trouble. I want to make journal pages but am having trouble.

I have a picture of the GF that I want for the background but I dont know how to make it lighter or look faded that way the writing can be seen better

 

[Dom13]

Easiest way is to add a white layer above the pic and then reduce the opacity of the white layer to around 80%. You made need more or less opacity depending on the picture but 80% is a good starting point. This is better tahn adjsuting the picture layer itself as you cna adjust it, or start over without having affected the original.