Use RGB values combined with opacity to get the transparency that you wish.
For instance,
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 0.2;"> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 0.4;"> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 0.6;"> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 0.8;"> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 1;"> </div>
Similarly, with actual values without opacity, will give the below.
<div style=" background: rgb(243, 191, 189) ; "> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(246, 143, 142) ; "> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(249, 95 , 94) ; "> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(252, 47, 47) ; "> </div>
<div style=" background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; "> </div>
You can have a look at this WORKING EXAMPLE.
Now, if we specifically target your issue, here is the WORKING DEMO SPECIFIC TO YOUR ISSUE.
The HTML
<div class="social">
<img src="http://www.google.co.in/images/srpr/logo4w.png" border="0" />
</div>
The CSS:
social img{
opacity:0.5;
}
.social img:hover {
opacity:1;
background-color:black;
cursor:pointer;
background: rgb(255, 0, 0) ; opacity: 0.5;
}
Hope this helps Now.